Surviving High School my way
by FalseAdvertising
Summary: This is about my adventure through the default first pack with Homecoming. I'm thinking about writing one for prom as a continuation, if you guys want me to. :   More about this in first chapter!First story, please be nice, but constructive.
1. First Day

**Hey guys!So this is my first story and I felt the urge to write it after playing the game. :)**

**Now, I used it as a guide and so if you played the game, you'll recognize a lot of the material and stuff in this story. But I tried to blend it in without it seeming to obvious, hopefully I did an okay job. Now if you have played the game, you'll understand why the long time skips are there. If you haven't played the game, well then do so now. :)**

**Enjoy!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own the game, the characters (except maybe my character?I'm not sure how that works.) or the title. This is PURELY my adventure as I played, from my character's perspective. The choices and paths I made are my own.**

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><p><span>Chapter One<span>

First Day

Centerscore High. I breathed in it's environment as I stepped out of my car, anxious to see how the morning would start. Other students were slowly making their way into the school, while some were hanging around in the parking lot with friends, but none of them seemed to pay me much attention. And why should they?I look pretty normal, short brown hair and brown eyes and I wore casual jeans with a grey t-shirt. If anything, attention would be drawn to my eyesore of a car, which was an old 1984 Ford Hatchback and the years were not kind to it. I locked it up and began walking towards the front doors, ready to start a new life here. Shortly thereafter, I was approached by a girl with blonde hair in a ponytail wearing a green tank top and white capri shorts.

"Hey, I've never seen you here before. You must be new." She smiled.

"I just transferred today,"I returned the smile.

"Well it's nice to have you here. I'm Beth, what's your name?"

"My name's Jason."

"Well, Jason, let me show you around."

As I followed Beth into the school, I was surprised to find she was so open and friendly with me even though we just met. She showed me around for a few minutes, directing me to the cafeteria, the science lab, the library and my homeroom class. I also noted how cute she actually was.

"So, what are you into?" She asked.

"Just the usual. Sports, girls."

"I bet you hang out with lots of girls, huh?"

"Well... I prefer quality to quantity." I smiled.

Beth laughed a little at the comment. "Hehe...You're kind of a flirt, aren't you?"

I began thinking of how lucky I was to have her show me around. Deciding to take my chances and use some pick-up lines to make her laugh, I looked at her and smiled. "Are you a parking ticket?Cause you've got fine written all over you."

Thankfully, she did laugh. "Hehe... That's pretty funny!"

Roll the dice again, I decided.

"Wow, is something on fire?Or are you just smoking hot?"

"You're hilarious!Do you have any more like that?"

"I mean, are you some kind of thief?Cause someone just stole my heart."

Beth laughed again. "Ha ha..Real funny.."

"Man, this place is great," I tried my best to smile as charmingly as possible. "I've only been here five minutes and I'm already talking to the most beautiful girl in the school!"

"Aww... You're funny _and_ sweet!,"She smiled at me. "Well, Jason, it's almost time for class, but maybe we can talk some other time.."

As I was about to agree, someone shove me from behind and nearly made me fall. I turned to see a bigger guy than me, with a shaved head and glaring eyes that were fixed on me.

"Hey punk! What do you think you're doing?"The guy growled.

"Look man, I don't want any trouble..I'm just talking to this pretty girl here.."I replied.

"Yeah?Well that pretty girl..,"He frowned. "Is _my_ girlfriend!"

He pushed me again and this time Beth stepped in between us.

"Adam!Leave Jason alone!I thought we talked about this!"

"Stay out of this, Beth!" Adam snapped, before pushing her aside and stepping up to me. "As for you, meat, I hope you're ready to get pounded. What do you have to say for yourself?"

"Alright, look man,"I throw my hands up to my chest in surrender. "There's no reason to get violent. Let's just talk about this.."

He scowled at me. "You running your mouth is what got us here in the first place!"

Without warning, Adam punched me in the stomach hard enough to send the air right out of my lungs. Before I could do anything, he threw another one, which knocked me into the lockers behind me. I fell to the floor in pain, clutching my stomach as Adam made for me. Unexpected help came though, as a girl dressed as a goth stepped between us and glared at Adam. She had long black hair with pale skin that looked like make-up to me.

"Leave him alone, you big jerk!"

It seemed as if he was afraid of the goth, as Adam reluctantly backed away upon her arrival. He didn't leave without pointing and glaring at me. "Look, you better stay away from my girl, loser!" He stormed off and Beth ran after him, I'd guess, to try and calm him down, though it looked impossible to do at this point. The goth girl turned around and looked down at me.

"Well, at least one guy in this high school doesn't try to solve every problem by punching it." She smiled. "I'm Raven. Maybe I'll see you around.."

She turned and left as the crowd that had formed began to disperse. Among them, a boy who looked about my age stepped forward. He had tan skin with short black hair and black eyes.

"That fight looked brutal," He said. "You okay?"

He offered a hand, which I gratefully took and stood up while still clutching my stomach with my other. "Yea, thanks. I'm Jason. I just started today."

"I'm Howard. I'm new here too, but even I know better than to fight a guy like Adam," He said, scratching his head. "From what I've heard, he's the star quarterback."

"Yeah?I've got a pretty good arm... Maybe I should try out and see if I can take his spot." I laughed at the thought of it.

"Maybe... But that guy is the best in the state," As he spoke, the bell rang. "There's the bell... We should get to class. Have you picked out your classes yet?"

"Uh..no."

"Well, you'd better get to the counsellor's office and talk to Ms. Lee then... Good luck in there. You'll need it!"

Howard turned and made his way to his own class while I began the task of finding the counsellor's office. I looked around the area for a few minutes before finally I found it at the end of the hall, the last door on the right. I knocked and heard a lady call me in. The counsellor was an older black woman with her hair bundled up and large gold earrings.

"Well, hello, hello... You must be the new student I saw getting beaten to a pulp out in the hallway!"She smiled.

I stared at her for a minute, half out of shock and half out of confusion. "You saw me getting beaten up and you didn't do anything to help?"

"Of course," She said. "As a counsellor, I know I can't solve all of your problems for you! See, if you give a man a fish, he'll eat for a day. But if you _teach_ a man to fish, he'll eat for a.."She trailed off, expecting me to finish the rest. I didn't know what she meant, but I grinned at the word fish.

"You're going to teach me to fish?"

"No!I mean... Never mind..,"Ms. Lee sighed. "Anyways, let me explain how this works.. This semester, you'll have to take English and Math. You also get one elective, either History or Biology."

I thought about it for a minute, then decided. "I think I'll do History."

"History, huh? Did you know I'm actually related to Genghis Khan?"She grinned.

"Wow."

"Yup... Before I became a counsellor, I was _totally_ considering a career in pillaging. In fact, I sometimes _still_ think about bulldozing my ex-boyfriend's house.."

I simply stared at her, unsure if she should be sharing this kind of stuff with a student. As if reading my mind, she stopped.

"Oops!Sorry for oversharing. Now... You go out and do great in your classes!Good luck!"

"Hehe... Sure... Thanks."I thought for a moment how crazy this lady was.

She dismissed me and as I left the counsellor's office, I passed by a couple of people who I thought I heard mention my name. I hid around a nearby corner and listened.

"Did you hear how that guy Jason tried to reason with Adam?"A girl with dirty blonde hair in a ponytail and red tank top said. I think I heard the other guy call her Taylor. "That was totally mature of him!"

"Uh, by 'totally mature', do you mean, 'totally lame'?" Her partner, a tall guy with a red baseball cap turned backwards and in a casual jersey spoke. I think his name was Chuck. "He hit on Adam's girl and wussed out of a fight! That guy got what he deserved."

I sighed to myself as I began making my way to class. At least I was making a name for myself. It didn't take me long to find my English room and it looked pretty standard. I spotted an empty seat available next to a stereotypical 'nerd'. He had unkempt brown hair and big rimmed red glasses. As I sat down, he turned and smiled at me.

"Salutations! I am Spud."

"Uh.. I'm Jason."

Spud grinned at me. "I hope you're as excited about today's quiz as I am!"

"Q..quiz? But it's our first day!"

"Exactly!Now they can test us on our summer studies!" He seemed genuinely excited, which only strengthened his image as a nerd. "You _do_ know how grading at this school works, right?Because it's a little different from most places..."

"Uh.. If it's different from most places, I guess I might not know it.."

Spud gasped. "Egads! In that case, I should explain immediately! One of your classes will give you a three-question quiz every Monday. It's a great way to start the week! For each question you get right, you'll get one 'grade point'! You can also earn extra grade points by doing your homework. To get an 'A' average, you need to earn four points every week. So you definitely need to do some work to keep that GPA up! If you really want to go nuts, you can even do _extra_ homework!That's how I have a 4.8 GPA! There's also a final at the end of the term that counts for a third of your grade!Man... I can't wait for finals!"

I simply stared at him, trying to cope with what he just said and deciding if I could remember it all. "Uh... Cool."

It was then that the teacher walked over to me and smiled. She was a young lady with blonde hair done up like the counsellor's and had little chopsticks in to keep it up. "Hi, Jason. My name is Ms. Prez. Welcome to English! Time for your first quiz."

I stared in mock horror at her. My first quiz within the first thirty seconds of me sitting down... Insane.

"Shakespeare wrote in..." She read off a list of four choices and gave me about ten seconds to answer. I tried to remember everything I could about Shakespeare in those ten seconds.

"Um..Iambic Pentrometer?"

"Correct!" Ms. Prez smiled and continued to the next question. "Which of these is a book by John Steinbeck?"

Again she read off my choices.

"Grapes of Wrath?"

"Correct!"

"Who was one of the original three musketeers?"

"That guy named Portia?"

Ms. Prez shook her head. "That's wrong I'm afraid. Let's see then.. You got two out of three correct. Nicely done, Jason."

I sighed in relief. My first quiz went pretty well. I looked over at Spud and he shot me a thumbs up and I just smiled, shaking my head. The rest of class went by pretty quick and before I knew it, the bell rang for lunch. I grabbed my stuff and took off to the cafeteria. Thanks to Beth, I knew where it was and got there before most of the other students. As I got my food and looked for a place to sit, I saw a familiar face waving me over.

"Yo! Jason!Over here!"

I walked over and pulled up a seat beside Howard. As I did, he slid a crumbled up piece of paper in front of me.

"Check it out! Football try-outs start this Friday!"

"Oh?"I remember our talk that morning. "Well.. I hope I can show Adam up.."

Howard grinned. "I hope I can impress some cheerleaders! Of course... You already have a head start!What's going on with you and Beth?Are you gonna make a move on her?"

I thought about it. Beth was really pretty and nice, plus she was the first person I met when I got here. But unfortunately, she was apparently Adam's girlfriend.

"Well... She's not really my type." I lie.

"Huh?"Howard seemed surprised at my reply. "You don't like hot, popular cheerleaders?"

"Beth's cool," I began. "But there are so many other girls at this school.."

"Are you sure you're not just scared of what Adam will do if he catches you with Beth again?Get this.. I heard that she's not even his girlfriend... They just went out a couple of times."

I grinned. "Huh... I guess he's not as good with the girls as he is at football then."

Howard didn't say anything, but just stared at me wide eyed.

"What's wrong, Howard?"

Noticing he was looking behind me rather then at me, I turned around to find Adam and some other guys standing right behind me looking pretty scary.

"You better watch that mouth of yours!," Adam snapped. "Or I'll have to pound your face in!"

I recoiled slightly as he reached forward, past me, and snatched the paper on the table. He grinned.

"You losers are gonna try out for the team, huh? That ought to be good for a laugh!"

Feeling annoyed and slightly angry at his attitude, I spoke without thinking.

"Yeah. I think I'm going to be trying out... For quarterback!"

"In your dreams, meat,"He scowled. "You're not even good enough to be my backup... That's Bryce's job." He gestured to one of the other guys, who had slick brown hair and wore a similar jersey to the one that Chuck wore earlier. Adam continued.

"Bryce was my backup all last year, and I taught him everything I know. On any other team, he'd be a starter for sure. Looks like there's no room on our roster for you."

I frowned. "We'll see this Friday.."

He matched my frown with his own. "Oh, I'm looking forward to it.. See you on the field, meat!"

Adam turned and stormed off, followed by his friends. Once they were gone, I let out the breath I had been holding and swallowed hard.

"That Bryce kid looked kind of tough.."

"Dude, we need to work on our football skills. I saw some guys getting ready to scrimmage.. If we hurry, I bet we can play before lunch is over!"Howard said.

We both finished out meals as quick as we could and headed out to the field behind the cafeteria afterwards. Like he had said, there was indeed a practice game about to start. As we approached, I saw Chuck turn to face us.

"Well, well, well.. You two wannabes looking to play with the big boys?I hope you can keep up!"

"Man, it's been awhile.. I hope I haven't forgotten everything.." I spoke out loud as I pondered the thought.

"We can go over the rules, if you want." Chuck offered.

"No, I think I can manage."

"Heh, okay, rookie. Let's see what you've got."

I had never thrown something so hard in my life. I got the spot of quartback for our team and Howard was a wide reciever. The game took about thirty minutes and the score was pretty close with 21-24 the final outcome, though luckily our team had won. I walked over to one of the benches and sat down, trying to catch my breath. As I did, Howard walked over and he looked equally as tired.

"Right on, man! If you throw like that during try-outs, you'll make the team for sure!"

"Thanks, buddy. You made some good catches out there." I replied.

I looked over to see Chuck walking up.

"Hey, dude... You had a couple good throws there.. But if you really want to make a name for yourself, you're going to have to build some muscle. If you get strong enough, you might just be able to learn some special moves." He exclaimed.

"Cool,"I smiled. "I'll keep that in mind."

"Okay, dudes... I'll see you around." Chuck turned and left just as we heard the bell ring for our next classes.

"That's the bell!Time to get to class." Howard said.

We headed off the field and back to the school. It seemed that the rest of the day passed by pretty quickly and fairly uneventful. Before I knew it, the bell rung for school out. I grabbed my things and left the building, fumbling for my keys in my pocket as I walked to my car. On the way, I saw Beth waiting for me. She smiled as I approached.

"Hey there, Jason."

"Oh, uh... Hi, um, Beth." I glanced around the parking lot, expecting Adam to show up behind me at any second.

"I want to apologize for what happened with Adam earlier. That was totally not cool."

"It's okay," I shrugged and smiled. "I know it wasn't your fault. Adam's the real problem."

"He can be sweet, really, but he just doesn't know how to keep things in perspective... I mean, we went on two dates and suddenly, he's acting like he owns me." She said, shaking her head.

"Some guys are just too possessive, I guess."

She nodded and then smiled. "Seriously. But enough about Adam. I was wondering... Are you doing anything on Saturday? My friends are throwing this party down at the beach. You should come!"

"Beach party, eh?I'll think about it." In fact, I was already thinking about it. It would be a great way to meet other people and spend time with Beth.

"Great!I'll see you around then!" She said and left.

I smiled as I watched her walk away before shaking my head and walking back to my car. Once I got home, I finished my homework and bummed around until dinner.

"How was your first day at school?"My mom asked as we all sat down to eat.

"Well, I got a good score on my first quiz." I grinned.

"That's okay," My dad said, cutting into his pork chops. "But I think you can do better, son... Tell you what. Just to give you a little extra motivation, let's make a little deal. If you can earn at least a 3.0 this semester, we'll sell your sorry excuse for a car and buy you a decent set of wheels. Trust me, ladies prefer driving with a guy when they're not worried he's got a family of rats living under the back seat."

"That...,"I started, but failing to come up with any defence, just sighed instead. ".. Is a good point. It would be pretty nice to get a car that doesn't sound like it'll explode every time I go over fifty-five miles an hour... Okay, dad, you've got yourself a deal!"

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><p><span>End of First Chapter<span>


	2. Sparks?

Chapter Two

Sparks?

I got to school the next day just before class started and found my way to my seat. Setting my stuff down, I noticed who was going to be my neighbour and was slightly surprised. It was the goth girl who had stopped Adam yesterday. She wore a red tank top with a red choker and black jeans, with the same make-up on and dark red lipstick. As I sat down, the motion drew her attention and she smiled when she saw me.

"Hi there, Jason."

"Hey Raven," I returned the smile. "Guess we'll be seeing a lot of each other, huh?"

"Guess so. Don't worry, though... I'm sure it won't hurt your rep."

I raised my eyebrow slightly. "What are you talking about?"

"You're normal. I'm a freak," She said, shrugging. "We're not exactly supposed to get along."

"Yeah?Well, I happen to think goths are pretty cool." I tried to sound as convincingly as I could.

"Oh, really?," This time she raised an eyebrow. "You're into goth stuff, huh?"

"Sure, why not?"

"Name one goth band." She challenged me.

I tried to think of something, and I must've looked pretty stupid as I slowly thought of random words. "Uh... The Death... Skull... Death faces?" I said reluctantly.

" 'The Deathskull Deathfaces'? Seriously? That's the best you've got?" She said flatly, her eyebrow still raised.

I sighed in defeat. "Okay, okay, so I don't know much about goth music.."

"I'm just teasing you," She smiled at me. "It's cute that you made the effort... Most jocks wouldn't have even bothered. Look, if you wanna check out the goth scene, there's going to be an awesome show this Saturday. 'Blood Baby' is playing down at the Deathshadow Lounge. They're one of my favorite bands... You might get a kick out of them."

"I'll think it over, okay?" I said, as I wondered what a goth music show would be like.

Before long, the bell rung for lunch. I got up, gathered my things and headed to the cafeteria with the rest of the students. After getting my food, I walked to the table where Howard was sitting.

"Hey, Jason, did you see the Homecoming flyers?" He asked as I sat beside him.

"Homecoming? Isn't it kinda early for that?"

"Here, check this out!"

He showed me the flyer, which announced the Homecoming Dance was in seven weeks, right after the big game against Wilson High and that tickets were on sale now.

"I see.."

"Man..,"Howard smiled. "It would be so awesome to be Homecoming King... There are the ladies... And the prestige... and the ladies! What do you think, Jason?"

"Yea, it would be cool."

"I knew I wasn't the only one who cared about popularity!"He beamed. "I mean... It's not just about becoming Homecoming King... It's about how people treat you in general! When you're popular, kids are just nicer to you. It's no fun going through life having everyone treat you like a loser.."

I layed a hand on his shoulder and smiled. "I guess you've got a point there... But how am I supposed to get popular?"

Howard grinned. "Well, I'll tell you my method... Watching a bunch of TV! That way, you can keep up on current events... Plus you'll know all the latest shows!"

"So... I just watch a bunch of TV and suddenly that makes me become popular?"

"Well... Watching TV helps, but you've also just got to be a cool guy in general. Help people out, be nice and prove your awesomeness!"

I grinned with him. "Well... I'm not sure I'm ever going to care as much as you, but I'll see what I can do."

We finished eating and made our way to our next class, which neither of us had never even heard of.

" 'Unsupervised study'?What the heck is this?" I asked out loud as I walked into the classroom. Noticing not many kids were in there and the few that were there were just talking with each other. There wasn't a teacher either. Howard scratched his head as he came in behind me.

"Yeah... They didn't have this at my old school."

A guy with blonde hair, shiny from hair jell, in a purple t-shirt approached us and smiled. I recognized him as being one of the guys that was with Adam at lunch yesterday.

"It's the best thing to happen to this school since they started letting girls wear short-shorts!" He said.

"Huh?" I simply blinked.

A girl with pale hair and purple glasses spoke from her desk. "Due to the latest budget crisis, they're letting us go home early to study on Wednesday afternoons."

"For real?"It sounded good to me.

"For real," The blonde haired guy spoke. "This is your chance to do whatever you want."

"Some people actually _do_ go study, Jacob."The girl retorted.

The guy, Jacob, simply brushed her off. "But most of us just watch TV or play sports."

"Nice! I'm heading home. Give me a call if you want to throw the ball around or something." Howard said as he pretty much darted out of the room.

I grinned at the thought of the idea and nodded my head in approval. Unsupervised study.. I'm beginning to like the sound of this. I didn't stick around too long after Howard left, heading home about fifteen minutes later. Once there, I told my parents about the class and though they didn't seem to like it a lot, they let me off to do whatever I wanted. In my room, I laid on my bed and pondered what to do for the day. I could do my homework, watch some TV or if I wanted, go to the gym right down the street. Thinking about try-outs on Friday, I decided to hit the weights.

Once at the gym, I began by lifting fifteen pound barbells for a few hours until I got pretty tired and couldn't do it anymore. Noticing that I had spent a lot of time at the gym, I drove home just in time for dinner.

The next day at lunch, while I ate with Howard like usual, three girls walked up and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned to see one with burgundy hair combed over one eye wearing a purple blouse in front of the others.

"So... You're the new kid who Adam roughed up. Allow me to introduce myself. I'm Paula, and these are my associates Taylor and Amanda."

The girl Taylor, I recognized from that time with Chuck. "I've seen you around.."

Amanda had long red hair and an orange blouse on. She had an unusually large smile. "You smell like soap!"

"Quiet, Amanda!"Paula snapped. "Anyway, I heard you _might_ be trying out for the football team tomorrow... Which means you _might_ be cool. Maybe even cool enough to hang out with us." She smiled seductively.

"Uh.."I simply stared at the three, not really sure what to say. Paula continued regardless.

"Anyway, I just wanted to let you know that we'll be watching."With that, she turned and walked off.

"See you later, Jason..." Taylor smiled and followed Paula out. Amanda simply waved franticly and ran out as well. Once they were gone, I simply looked at Howard who just shrugged and without any more thoughts on the event, we continued eating.

Try-outs were today. School past by quickly as I was only concerned with how I was going to pass. After the final bell rung, me and Howard met up and headed to the field together. There weren't that many other students there, but I recognized a few such as Jacob, Chuck, Bryce and unfortunately, Adam. The coach walked over and stood in front of everyone.

"Hello, gentlemen, and welcome to the worst two weeks of your life. If you don't make the cut, you can always try for cheerleading. The rest of you, though, will be a team. My team. _The Fighting Lizards._"

Adam walked up to me with a grin on his face. "Sounds tough, meat. You sure you're up for this?"

I simply scowled at him as he left. For the next hour, we ran a series of intense drills, sprints, and other exercises that violated basic human decency. I looked over at Howard who seemed to be struggling.

"Can't... go... on.." He wheezed.

"Quit.. complaining... Coach is heading this way!"I said. On que, the man approached us and pointed at me.

"You there! Rookie! What position are you trying out for?"

"Quarterback." I reply.

"Is that so?Well, well, Adam. Looks like you've got a little competition!"

Adam frowned at the remark. "Competition, huh? Let's see you compete with this," He picked up a football. "Go long, Chuck!"

Chuck sprinted all the way down to the end zone and Adam through a long pass right to him, landing perfectly in his hands. I swallowed at the very sight of a football being thrown that distance. The coach grinned.

"Nicely done, Adam. See that, rookie?That's what a starting quarterback looks like... Of course, we do still have to figure out Adam's backup. You're up, kid! Show me what you got."

I grabbed a football and watched as Howard sprinted into the end zone. Mustering all my strength into my right arm, I wound back and shot the ball to him. Thankfully, It flew straight and true, right into Howard's arms. I let out a sigh of relief as the coach nodded.

"Not bad... Not bad. You're no Adam... But you might make a nice backup."

Adam scowled at the idea. "That was a lucky throw!Bryce, show 'em what you've got."

"Done." Bryce grabbed a ball and threw it to the exact same place without much effort. The coach nodded at his throw as well.

"Hmmm... This is a tough decision. Either one of you could make a good fit for the team... Bryce was a solid backup for us last year... But Jason might have more upside... So here's what we're going to do. I am making an executive coaching decision! I'll let the two of you decide the backup quarterback position... By scrimmaging for it next week!"

I blinked in disbelief. "Scrimmaging?"

"Exactly!We'll play a practice game right after school next Friday!Jason and Bryce can each be quarterback for opposite teams. And whoever wins is Adam's backup. And whoever loses... You'll be out."

"What?" I looked at Bryce, who simply grinned.

"I'll see you next week, Jason..."

Adam, Bryce and the coach walked off, allowing Howard to step forward. "Whoa... That was pretty intense..."

"And I guess it's not over yet." I sighed in exhaustion.

That Saturday, I say in my room pondering what to do for the day. I went to the gym last time, and since my parents were watching TV, I decided to just do my homework. It took me about an hour to finish it all and I was relieved when I answered my last question. With all of that out of the way, my night was free. I remembered my options. Beth invited me to that beach party with her and her friends, and Raven also invited me to that concert with her. Then again, I could just stay home. Which were pretty much my only three options. I thought about it for half an hour and made my decision.

I grabbed my keys and hopped in my car and was soon on my way. Fifteen minutes later, I pulled into the parking lot of a sketchy looking club and felt a tad bit uneasy being the only guy there without fangs and make-up. Most of the goths eyed me as I parked and got out, locked my car and headed to the front door. I spotted Raven near the entrance and she seemed extremely surprised that I was there.

"Jason!You showed up!I sort of figured this wasn't your kind of thing..."

"Are you kidding?,"I grinned. "No way I'd miss this!"

"Oh yeah?You're into 'Blood Baby'?" She asked mockingly.

"Well, no, but...I'll give it a shot. What's the worst that can happen?"

"I've got to say, I didn't have you pegged as the adventurous type. I'm impressed!,"Raven smiled. "I ought to warn you though, some of these shows can be pretty intense!"

"Intense?I'm all about intense!"I said, matter-of-factly.

"Oh please..I bet the most intense thing you've ever done was sit around playing 'Madden'!"She mocked.

"Hey, in my defence, those were some pretty intense games of 'Madden'.."I grinned.

"Ha ha. Let's get inside!Don't worry about paying... The bouncer and I go way back."

Raven grabbed me and pulled me into the club. We had to fight our way through the crowd it seemed like, as it was packed like a sardine can with goths in different attire. Some wore capes and fangs, other's had make-up and eye-liner. On stage was a band playing and the musicians looked just like every other goth in the room.

"Man, this place is packed!,"I comment as we push through the crowd. "Think any of these people are vampires?"

"Hmm.. Yeah, maybe, "Raven thoughtfully looked around. "Now that you mention it.."

"... I was joking."

The band started playing a dull, grinding industrial sound while the singer seemed to moan into the microphone. Raven seemed to know the song as she got excited when it started.

"Nice!' Mothgrind'! I love this song!"

I listened for a few minutes, speechless at some of the phrases in the song. Especially one in particular.

"Did he just say he wants to cremate my pets?"

"It's totally a metaphore." Raven smiled.

Instead of listening to the horrible song, I tried to direct my attention to Raven. She was having a blast, jumping and even singing along to the lyrics. To occupy myself, I just gently swayed to the music and eventually, Raven stopped singing and turned to me in between the sets.

"Hey, you sure you're okay? This isn't weirding you out?"

"Well, of course it's weirding me out, "I laugh a bit and smile. "But that's okay. This is different, but it's also kind of cool. I mean, sure, that last song was all about being buried alive... But it still beats half the stuff on the Top 40!"

Raven reached down and took my hand, and I was surprised to find her hands were small and soft compared to mine.

"Thanks for being so open-minded, Jason. That's pretty cool." She smiled and turned away.

"All right, you little vampires...,"The lead singer on stage began. "It's time to speed things up... Who's ready for 'PAIN FRENZY'?"

"_Whoo!Yeah!'PAIN FRENZY'!_" Is what I heard Raven scream from my side. I on the other hand had no idea what was about to happen. Raven looked at me and grinned. "Remember when I said these things get intense?Brace yourself!"

The band started playing a fast-paced song and the room practically exploded into a furious mosh pit. I was literally shoved and hit from every angle, as the goths seemed to release from their surroundings as they danced without concern for their neighbours. Raven had no trouble blending in, dancing and jumping with the rest, and only she restrained herself from hitting me. Trying not to embarrass myself, I try to keep up with everyone. Luckily, I was able to. I ended up moshing with the best of them, keeping my footing and I actually had fun doing it.

"Whoa.. You really know how to mosh!" Raven said.

"Of course!I'm a football player, aren't I?Watch this!"

I watched a huge bald guy come flying towards Raven, but he didn't make it as I shouldered him out of the way with ease.

"That was awesome!"Raven beamed.

The rest of the night seemed a blurr. We mosh'd and danced until we couldn't mosh or dance anymore. A few hours later, as the show ended and people scattered to their cars, I walked with Raven to hers. It was quiet for a few minutes before she looked up at me while we were walking.

"Hey listen, Jason... I really appreciate you coming out here tonight. You're a pretty cool guy."

"I just braved the world's freakiest mosh pit, and all I am is 'pretty cool'?"I grinned.

"Well... Maybe you're a little bit more than that."

Raven leaned forward and gave me a kiss on the cheek. Her lips were soft and warm against my skin and I kind of liked it. She backed up to her car and smiled.

"See you around?"

"Absolutely!" I returned the smile and watch her get into her car, start it up and drive away. I stood there for a few more minutes, just thinking about everything that happened. It would surely be a night I would remember for quite awhile.

The next day, I decided to hit the gym and worked out some more. I did the same routine, lifted weights until I was too tired to continue and then went home. Again, I made it just in time for dinner.

End of Chapter Two


	3. Making The Team

Chapter Three

Making The Team

I sighed as the teacher announced that it was time for the math quiz. Mr. Russell walked up to me with a copy of the quiz in hand. He was a tall man, with brown hair combed back and a tucked in formal violet shirt. He sat on the empty desk in front of me with his feet on the chair and began reading off the questions to me.

"The sum of the interior angles of a trapezoid is..."

"I..don't know... 180 degrees?"I guessed.

"That is wrong, Jason." Mr. Russell raised an eyebrow. "Next question: Ninety-six divided by three is what?"

"32." I answer proudly. Mr. Russell nods with a smile on his face.

"Correct. Final question: 10 + 11 + 12 =... What?"

"33."

"Excellent. You got two out of three correct. Good job, Jason."

Another fifteen minutes and I was out of math class and on my way to lunch. I stopped at Howard's class, where he was still getting his things together.

"Hey, Howard!Wanna go get some food?"

He turns around and grins. "Sure, dude. I'm thinking there's a slice of pizza with my name on it down in the cafeteria."

As he got his things and met me at the door, we were about to head out when a group of guys from the football team came around the corner and blocked our way. Among them was Adam, Chuck and Bryce.

"Actually, meat, you've already got lunch plans." Adam said. I scowled at him and he scowled back.

"What are you talking about, Adam?"Howard asked.

"Hmm... Well, you remember what our team mascot is, right?"

"Sure we do!,"I exclaim. "It's a lizard."

"Huh... Well I guess you're not as _completely_ brain-dead as you look."Adam scoffed.

I began getting fed up with his beating around the bush and stepped forward. "Can we just get to the point?What's going on here?"

"If you want to have any chance of becoming a Fighting Lizard," He explained. "There's a test you wannabes have to pass. Chuck... The Lizard Box, please."

"You got it!Man, I love hazing recruits!"Chuck beamed as he handed a small brown box over.

Adam grinned. "You all know how a lizard can shed its tail and run away, right? Well, we've got quite a delicacy for you today." He opened the box to show us a dozen or so lizard tails laying inside. Howard put his hand to his mouth in disgust.

"Take whichever one looks juiciest,"Adam said. "You're each going to eat a tail on the count of three."

Howard reluctantly grabbed one and I did afterwards.

"This one doesn't look so bad.."He lied.

"They all look equally bad to me." I said bluntly.

Chuck stepped forward and held up one finger and began counting up. "One..two..three!"

Both me and Howard quickly swallowed the tails whole, shivering slightly from the revolting taste, but glad to be done with it.

"Nice man!We're Lizards now," Howard stopped and held his hand to his mouth. "Eww.. I think I can feel it wiggling in my stomach!"

I tried my best to hide my disgust. "That wasn't so bad."

Chuck patted us on the shoulders and smiled. "I knew you had it in you, guys!Welcome to the team!"

Adam, on the other hand, still had a bone to pick with us. "Ha. When Bryce was a recruit, he ate five lizard tails and didn't blink... And you think you can beat him on the field?"

Bryce simply followed as Adam and most of the other players walked away, all except for Chuck, who stayed behind. He smiled at us with put his arms around our shoulders.

"Hey, now that you guys have passed the test, you should come to my party this Friday."

"Sure thing... Just as long as you serve better food." I grinned.

He returned the grin. "Heh, I'll do my best. See you there!"

Me and Howard continued to the cafeteria once we were alone again and ate in the comfort of each other's company. The rest of the day was pretty uneventful, and it passed by pretty quick.

The next day at lunch, as I was walking to my table, I overhead Taylor and Amanda who were sitting on the table by the doors. They seemed to be upset.

"... And then Paula is like 'You breathe loud... Stop it.' But how am I supposed to stop breathing?"Amanda wiped some tears from her eyes with a napkin. "And then... And then she said I was fat!"

"You're totally _not_ fat!," Taylor frowned. "You're totally cute! Paula has been stepping over the line lately... Maybe we should do something..."

Amanda wiped the last of her tears and spotted me walking near the table. "Oh!That guy Jason is coming this way!Is he cool?I can't remember..."

"I dunno... I guess we could talk to him and find out." Taylor said.

The two of them got up and walked over to me. I decided not to mention to Amanda how red her eyes looked, instead I focused on Taylor's question.

"Hey, Jason. Did you see 'Desperate Midwives' last night?"

"That's the show with Bloke Livery, right?"I inquired.

Taylor frowned at me. "No! That's 'Gossip Grill'!Don't you know anything?"

I was slightly taken back by the reply and decided to turn and continue on to my table. I guess Howard was right about watching TV.

The rest of the day passed by and soon the bell rung for school out. I departed from Howard and hit the track to do some laps for awhile. I managed to get a couple done before I spotted Raven standing by the gate waiting for me. I grabbed my towel from the bench and walked over to her while cleaning up my face.

"Hey there, fast-and-sweaty,"She smiled. "You got plans this Saturday?"

I grinned. "Nope!You wanna hang out?"

"Sure!What do you wanna do?"

"How about.."I thought for a moment. There was a mall nearby, I could take her there. Or to the movies, a classical date spot. Then again, dinner sounded pretty good as well. Pondering these for a few seconds, I decided. "... We go see a movie?"

"Great!I'll be looking forward to it!"Raven smiled and left.

I smile to myself and do a few more laps before heading home.

In class the next day, I was writing some notes down when I felt a tap on my shoulder and I turned around to see the guy behind me, Ryan, grinning at me.

"Psst!Jason!My buddy and I are gonna hit the beach!Want to get out of here with us?"

At the moment, Spud intervened to my right. "Don't do it, Jason... For the sake of your GPA!"

Ryan rolled his eyes. "Whatever. So, You in or not, Jason?"

"I've got to work on my grades, man." I replied, shrugging.

"Fine..your loss." Ryan frowned as I turned back around.

And I was glad I didn't ditch. The teacher assigned an in-class assignment where you had to grab a partner. I ended up with Spud and through some twist of events, we ended up talking about something completely unrelated to the project.

"Pluto is not a planet!"I said. "The International Astronomical Union said so!"

"I defy their classification!"Spud shot back. "It devalues the contributions of Le Verrier, Lowell, and Tombaugh!"

Ms. Prez walked over and lifted an eyebrow at us. "Jason... Spud... I'm glad you two are having a scientific debate... but that has nothing to do with the subject we're studying now. Still, I'm giving you a little extra credit today for promoting intelligent discourse!"

We turned in our assignment at the end of class and continued on with the rest of our school day. Pretty soon, the bell rung and I drove on over to the gym to work out before going home. As I entered the weight room, I noticed a few guys from school hanging around in there.

"Hey, Jason!"Chuck smiled upon seeing me and waved me over. "You here to join the Buff Club?"

"Uh... What's that?"I asked.

"It's the club for dudes who want to get strong." Jacob replied.

Another guy whom Chuck introduced as Zach spoke up. He had spiked up blonde hair and was pretty buff already. "If you join up, you might eventually look as good as me!"

Chuck pointed to a barbell on the floor. "Why don't you try lifting this here... We'll see where you're at so far!"

I walked over to the barbell and grabbed hold. I bent my knees and easily lifted it off the ground and above my head with a grin on my face. "This is easy!"

Jacob blinked in astonishment. "Whoa!I can barely lift that much!Of course, I'm also the weakest guy on the team."

"Not bad, Jason." Chuck smiled and clapped his hands. "I'm impressed."

"At this rate, maybe you'll be as strong as Adam one day." Zach said.

Shrugging, I worked out with the guys for a few hours before saying my goodbyes and heading home. It was Wednesday, so that meant another 'Unsupervised study' night, which in turn, meant another free night to do whatever I wanted. I decided to watch some TV, keep up with what was new. After that incident with Taylor and Amanda, I felt it might help to be knowledgeable about the latest shows.

A few days passed by uneventfully and finally, the big day came for the scrimmage between me and Bryce. As me and Howard walked to the field, two little girls who looked like twins ran up to Howard.

"Kay?Kel?What are you doing here?"He questioned.

"Our school is just down the street!"I couldn't tell who it was who spoke. "Mom and Dad said we could come here after school every Friday to watch you play soccer!"

"Uh, I think you kids mean 'football'" I corrected.

"Sure." One of them said.

"Howard," I looked to him. "I didn't know you had little sisters."

He sighed. "The twins are usually too busy getting into trouble to be properly introduced to anyone."

"This is boring!"One of the girls said. "Let's go buy candy!"

The two ran off to the nearest vending machine and we continued on to the field. I grinned at Howard.

"They seem like a handful..."

"You don't know the half of it.." He frowned.

We quickly got to the field and joined the other players on the grass as Coach began barking out some encouragements.

"Okay, you useless lumps of dough, get into the football frying pan and bake yourselves into something worthwhile!"

Bryce walked up to me and frowned. "Let's do this."

All the players file off the field while the selected teams took up positions on the field with me behind one and Bryce behind the other. Then it began. The game lasted about twenty minutes and by the time it ended, I was almost out of breath. I looked to the score board to see our team's score was 32 and Bryce's teams was 28. I won. As everyone mingled, Bryce took off his helmet and walked over.

"You played the better game today, Jason. Good luck this season..." He smiled and walked off.

"That.. That does it!,"The coach grinned. "It looks like the Fighting Lizards just found a new backup quarterback!"

"Go Jason!"Jacob grinned.

"You can count on me, Coach!" I state proudly.

Adam, of course, wasn't at all pleased with the results. "Are you kidding me?This rookie?What about Bryce?"

"Bryce is still a solid player," Coach said. "I'll find a place for him... But like it or not, Adam, Jason just earned his spot. He's your teammate now... And you're going to have to help train him."

"Oh, I'll train him all right.."With that, Adam stormed off towards the locker room. As he left, Howard came running up with a big smile on his face.

"Nice work, bro!Backup QB!Woo!Woo!And I'm a backup wide receiver!It's officially time to celebrate!Let's go to Chuck's party!"

As he spoke, Kay and Kel appeared out of nowhere. "We're going to a party?"

Howard sighed. "Uh... I guess I've got to drop the twins off at home first..."

I grinned. "Heh. Right. I'll see you at Chuck's place."

Half an hour later, I was at the party, hanging out with the guys. Zach patted me on the back and grinned.

"Good to have you on the team, rookie."

"Yeah,"Jacob smiled. "Congratulations on making it."

I noticed Adam was glaring at me and I frowned back at him. "Great. You're here. Who invited you, anyway?"He scoffed.

"I did,"Chuck said, frowning as well. "If you look around, you'll see we're in _my_ house and you'll realize that this is _my_ party."

"Whatever, man. I'm taking off. See ya." With that, Adam storms out of the house.

"I hate to say it," Jacob began. "But I think the party's going to be more fun without him."

"Easy, Jacob... Adam's still a Lizard." Chuck replied and then grinned. "Anyway, this is supposed to be a party... So let's have some fun!"

We grab some pool cues and before long, we're all having an awesome time playing pool and watching TV. Me and Chuck were duking it out with the eight ball, but I put him out his misery.

"Eight ball in the corner pocket!"I announce right before I follow through with my words, nailing the shot.

"Nice one, Jason!"Jacob clapped.

A couple of hours later, I was on my way home after the party ended when I spotted someone walking on the side of the road. The closer I got, the sooner I realized it was Adam. A few drops on my wind shield indicated foul weather coming in, so I pulled up beside him despite not wanting to. It was the right thing to do, I figured.

"Hey," I said as I rolled the window down. "It's starting to rain. You want a ride?"

Adam frowned. "I don't need your charity."

"Come on. You're going to get sick. We can go back to hating each other tomorrow."I offered.

He was silent for a few seconds. "Fine." He climbed in and I drove on. It was awkward for the first few minutes, as neither of us spoke, so I decided to venture into neutral territory by speaking first.

"Uh... So... Where are we going?"

"Take a left over there... And now a right here...,"As he gave me directions, I noticed we entered the poorest side of the city. "Yeah. That's my place right there."He pointed to a house with a car in the driveway with a tarp over it.

"Is that your car parked in the driveway?"I asked.

"Yeah. But I don't drive anymore."

"Oh. Huh."

"Anyway...,"Adam rubbed his neck. "Thanks for the ride."

"No problem."

I smiled as he got out and shut the door. As I drove home, I couldn't help but think something enormous had just happened between us. Maybe it was just my imagination. Just maybe...

End of Chapter Three


	4. Date Night

Chapter Four

Date Night

Saturday, the holy grail of high schoolers everywhere. I sat on my bed, thinking about my date with Raven later that night and wondering how it was going to go. But I still had a few hours before we were to meet, so I decided to busy myself with homework until then. I could almost feel my brain getting smarter after a couple hours of studying, and learned things I didn't even think possible. I watched TV for the last hour, surfing the channels for something, yet there was nothing good on. Luckily, time favored me and passed pretty quick. Before I knew it, I was in my car driving to the movies to meet Raven.

I found a spot not too far out, as a lot of other people had the same idea as us and decided to make it a movie date that night. I walked into the lobby and saw Raven waiting for me by the concession stand. She smiled as I approached.

"So, what do you wanna see?"She asked.

Thinking about what she'd like more than what I'd like, I looked at the posters on the wall. Most of them seemed like romantic comedies and just retarded movies, so I picked the only one that sounded like something she'd watch; 'Headless Zombie 3: Please Give Me My Head Back' Oh yeah.

"Yes!I've been dying to see that!"She beamed when I told her, giving me the satisfaction of pride. "I hear in this one, the zombie goes on a rampage in a Congressional hearing!"

"Who could say no to that?"I grinned.

We bought the tickets and walked into the theatre and found it wasn't very crowded, and I could guess why.

"Where do you think we should sit?"Raven asked.

"Let's grab a spot down in front." I said.

The front was completely empty of life and so we got a good spot.

"Nice!All the annoying couples are in the back and all the old people are in the middle!"Raven beamed. "That means we get the front all to ourselves.."

I simply grin at her and turn as the movie starts. After about fifteen minutes into it, Raven poked me in my side. "Ugh... This goth is a total stereotype!It's offensive!"

"Huh?He doesn't seem that unrealistic to me,"I shrug. "He's got the white make-up and the vampire teeth and everything.."

Raven frowned. "Being goth isn't just about wearing dark clothes!It's about rejecting society's norms!A jock like you wouldn't understand.."

This time I frowned. "Now you're the one being judgemental!I understand it perfectly!In fact, I don't see myself as a jock!"

"Oh, really?" She seemed surprised. "You're saying you don't play sports?"

"Playing sports doesn't make you a jock. You might be surprised to learn that I read a lot, love classic movies and play the clarinet!"I said matter-of-factly.

"I'm impressed!Maybe I judged you too quickly!Is all of that true?"

"Well, okay, I made up the part about the clarinet," I shrug and grinned. "But the point stands... I'm more than just some jock stereotype."

Raven smiled gently. "No, no, I see it now... You'd make a great goth!A little eyeliner... A little black lipstick..."

I smiled a bit and raised an eyebrow. "Maybe if you're really lucky... Now, let's get back to this movie."

The two of us watched the movie in silence. About halfway through it though, I feel another poke in my side.

"Hey, Jason?I'm feeling kind of hungry... Do you think you could go get me a snack?"Raven inquired.

"Sure."

"Thanks... Make it something sweet, okay?That's what I'm craving."

"Something sweet. Got it."

I left the theatre and walked to the concession stand. I bought a few different things, making sure they were all sweet, and headed back. I handed the snacks to Raven and sat down again as I heard her trying them.

"Mmm, these are perfect!Thanks Jason!"She beamed.

"No problem." I smiled at her.

We settled back and watched the rest of the movie uninterrupted. After the movie ended and we left the theatre, I walked Raven to her car. She turned to me when we reached it.

"Good night, Jason." She said.

I thought about doing it. The atmosphere was right and I was in the mood, so I decided to go for it. I leaned forward and kissed Raven on the lips and to my surprise, she kissed me back. We broke off after a few seconds and she smiled shyly at me.

"Heh. Now good night, for real!"She said and got into her car. I watched as she drove off, running a finger across my lips. Her lips were soft and warm indeed..

Sunday finally rolled around and another free day to do what I wanted. I grabbed my keys and drove to the gym. Following my routine, I lifted weights for a few hours until I was tired and then headed home.

It was my first game. My third week at Centerscore and I was about to play against our first match of the season. I was pretty excited as I sat in history class, only to have that excitement dimmed by the quiz in Mrs. Swovelin's hand as she approached my desk. "Jason, please answer these questions."

"Which of the following men assassinated an American president?"

I almost laughed a bit as she read the choices. All of the them except for one _had been_ presidents. Save for the last. "John Wilkes Booth."

"Correct. A movement to end women's suffrage would be trying to abolish women's..."

"Suffering?"I shrugged, knowing it wasn't right.

"That is wrong. Final question. The world's first artificial Earth-orbiting satellite was called.."

"Sputnik."

"Correct!You got two out of three. Not bad."

School flew by. Soon, I was at practice on the field afterwards. Coach was running us through every exercise in the book to prepare us for the game.

"I've never done so many push ups." Howard complains.

"I never want to run again." I joined him.

Practice ended soon and the coach waved me and Adam over. "Adam, Jason, I want the two of you to work together," He said. "We could use something new in the playbook." He tossed the book to Adam and left.

"All right, meat," Adam began. "I don't like it, but since you're backup QB, we're going to have to work together on these plays."

"I've got some ideas for plays that we can put together..."I said.

"Yeah?Well, you can use your ideas somewhere else. This is _my_ team."

I frowned. "Come on, Adam. You heard what Coach said. We're supposed to work on this together. How can you just assume that I don't have anything to contribute?"

"You think you can come with something good?Okay, impress me." He scoffed.

We sat down on the bench and began working on it. I thought for a while..

"Uh.. So what if we send the quarterback over here... And then the receiver would go this way..."I brainstorm, running my finger along the map of the field.

Adam seemed surprised as I mapped this out in front of him. "Huh. That actually makes sense!"

For the next half hour, we worked together trying to come up with different plays, both throwing out ideas and contributing.

"Then the quarterback would go this way.."I started, but Adam cut me off.

"That's not bad, but what if we sent the receiver over here instead?"

"That's even better." I had to hand it to Adam. He might be a jerk, but he really knows football.

At lunch the next day, I overhead Paula and Taylor talking as I drew close.

"... So then she showed up to the mall in _tennis shoes_, and I pretended I didn't know her." Paula said.

"But...,"Taylor began. "Amanda said she was coming there straight from the track... She's been jogging six miles a day ever since you called her fat."

Paula looked slightly disgusted. "Ew... I guess that's why she was also so sweaty."

This made Taylor frown. "You know, Paula..." She was cut off by Paula.

"Wait... Shut up for a second. That guy Jason is coming over!... Hey, Jason, did you see the new 'Young Cash' video?"

"He's the rapper with the gold foot, right?"I inquire.

Paula scowled. "It's platinum!Duh!"

I continued on my way, wondering why I always have bad run ins with those girls.

After lunch, I made my way through the hallway when I spotted Raven hanging out with some of her friends leaning against a wall. There was a girl with black hair in pigtails with a skull choker, I think Raven said her name was Dinah and a guy with spiky green hair and multiple ear piercings who went by the name of Spike.

"I'm serious, I bet it wouldn't even hurt that bad!My uncle got a tattoo of a dinosaur and he said he barely even felt it!"Dinah exclaimed.

"See?That's what I told my mom, but she just won't listen.." Raven said.

"You girls are crazy.."Spike bluntly spoke.

I walked closer and waved once they noticed me. "Um, uh... Hey, guys."

Dinah seemed surprised to see me, while Spike just frowned. Neither said anything though.

"Give us a sec, guys." Raven said as she grabbed my arm and pulled me around a corner.

I looked back around the corner and shrugged. "What's with them?"

"Oh,"Raven waved her hand nonchalantly. "They're just not use to being talked to by... You know... A guy like you. We're the outcasts, remember?"She smiled. "Anyway, listen. My mom's going to be out of the house this Saturday, and I was wondering if you wanted to come over and watch some movies. It's been a long time since I've had a good horror movie marathon... You in the mood for some werewolf versus zombie action?"

"Sure, count me in!"I grinned at the thought of it being just us two in the house. When she gets scared from the movie, she'll go right to me. I let her return to her friends and continued down the hallway to my next class. As I passed the counsellor's office, Ms. Lee waved me in.

"Uh.. Is this about my grades?"I asked as I entered.

"I just wanted to let you know... You're doing great!You're even getting a 3.0 GPA!"

New car here I come. I thanked her and made it to class and sat down. About halfway through, someone whispered from behind me. I turned to see the girl behind me, Mallika, smiling at me.

"Hey, Jason!I'm sneaking out to see a short film playing down the street!Want to come with me?"

Kat, the girl sitting beside me, turned to face us. "I'd stay... If you care about your grades."

"Nah, I need to work on my grades. "I told Mallika, who frowned at my response.

"Fine... Your loss."

Me and Kat ended up working together on an in-class assignment and thankfully, we passed. School ended soon and I decided to stop by the gym on my way back. I waved to Chuck, who was lifting weights as well, and headed to my usual bench. I tried lifting some of the heavier weights and finding they were manageable, I started lifting them. Apparently I had an expression on my face cause I heard Chuck comment on it.

"Whoa. That's a scary face... Grit your teeth at the other team like that next game!"He laughed.

After I was done there, I went home and relaxed for the rest of the night.

The next day, me and Howard were hanging in the hallway while we waited for our next class to start when we were approached by two girls carrying papers.

"Hey guys,"One of them smiled. She had bright blue hair, strangely, and wore a black tank top. "I'm Elliana."

"... And I'm Lisa,"The other said. She had short blonde hair and wore a similar tank top. I couldn't help but think that with all that make-up on, she looked like someone out of the movies. "Have a flyer!"

Lisa handed me a paper. " 'Midsummer Night's Dream'?" I lifted an eyebrow as I had no idea what it meant.

"Man..," Howard began. "Last summer I had this dream about this clown that had a kitten for a head. And then it came up to me and asked for a glass of milk!" He grinned as if it was the coolest thing ever and I just looked at him.

"Hey,"Elliana poked Howard's arm. "You're kind of funny."

" 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' is the school play. We're acting in it." Lisa explained. "You should totally come see us!"

I noticed how flirty Elliana was being with Howard and how he seemed to like it. So I decided to help him by diverting Lisa's attention to me and not them. Doing the only thing I could think of at the moment, I started laying on the charm.

"You know, I wouldn't mind seeing you in a dream sometime." I grinned.

"Oh... I've heard about you,"Lisa smiled. "The guy with all the cheesy pick-up lines, right?"

I blinked in confusion. "Uh.."

"I'm just kidding. You're kind of cute. Of course, I've also heard you're seeing someone... Too bad... Then again, if you should ever happen to be available...,"She winked. "Well... Anyway, maybe I'll see you at the play. Come on, Elliana. We've got more flyers to hand out."

"Okay... See you soon, Howard!" Elliana blew a kiss as they left and disappeared in the crowd. As they did, Howard turned and patted my shoulder.

"Thanks for the help, Jason. We've _got_ to go see that play. Also... I think that girl Elliana is a Brazilian exchange student. Want to help me learn Portuguese?"

I simply grinned at him. "You're on your own on that one, pal."

Thursday finally rolled around and it was time for football practice. As I got to the field, Chuck jogged over to meet me.

"Hey, Jason!Coach told me to give you a lesson on how to play D!Since we're both just in high school, most guys play offence and defence... So in addition to your regular position, you'll also have to throw a block from time to time."

"That makes sense. Thanks." I smiled.

"No prob... In fact... I'm going to show you my secret block!You have been working out, right?"He asked.

"Are you kidding?Check these out!" I flexed my arm and grin proudly.

Chuck blinks in amazement. "Whoa... For a rookie, you're packing some big guns there!," He then smiled. "Okay then!You'll have no problem learning this move!"

We spent the next few hours perfecting the move Chuck taught me and pretty soon, I began to get the hang of it. By the end of practice, I collapsed into the grass and tried to catch my breath. Chuck sat down beside me, grinning.

"Not bad. Now you're ready to kick butt at tomorrow's game!"

I gave him a thumbs up and grinned again. "You know it."

Friday morning, I still hadn't woken up yet. I laid in bed and tried to enjoy the last few minutes of freedom and rest before I would have to get up. My door opened and I heard someone come in, so I rolled over and opened my eyes to see a giant lizard head staring right at me. I nearly flew out of my bed and out the window, but spotting my mom by the door stopped me before I made for the window.

"What the heck is that?"

Then my dad's head popped out from behind the lizard head.

"Don't you recognize your school mascot, son?"

I wiped my eyes and looked again, and sure enough, it was a rubber lizard head hat. I just stared at in disbelief and slight annoyance.

"I bought this from your school!"My dad continued. "I want to be an athletic supporter!"

"Dear,"My mom sighed. "Put that monstrosity away.."

"I'm showing an interest in our son's life!Don't you want me to be a good father?"

"Other than the fact that I am now scared of lizards... Thanks for the support?" I offer half-hearted.

My dad grinned. "I'm looking forward to the game tonight, son!Knock 'em dead!"

"And be safe. I don't want you to get hurt." My mom added.

I sighed and got ready for school. It was another uneventful day, save for the game. Everyone was talking about it at school and because of that, I got pretty excited. It was my first game and would be where I would make my mark on the school. Once the final bell rung, everyone made their way to the field to watch. I met up with Howard along the way and we both headed to the locker room to suit up. As we got to the entrance, I spotted Kay and Kel running towards us carrying a helmet.

"Look what we did, big brother!,"I was starting to tell them apart by their voices and figured it was Kel speaking. "We're helping!You left this at home, so we brought it to you!"

They held up the helmet to show it was covered in flower, hearts and unicorn stickers. Howard went wide-eyed and snatched it from them.

"My helmet!What did you do to it?"

Kay smiled. "We made it pretty!"

Unfortunately for Howard, at that moment Coach came around the corner and saw us. The helmet caught his eye as he walked up and made him frown.

"Howard!Did you deface regulation equipment belonging to a regulation football team during a regulation game?"He snapped. "That's against every regulation in the book!... But since it's time for the game, I'll let you off with a warning!Get those stickers off and I'd better not catch you breaking any more rules!"

"Sorry, Coach. It won't happen again." Howard apologized.

The coach shook his head and went into the locker room.

"He seemed really mad," Howard sighed. "It's our first game and he already hates me."

I pat him on the back and we follow the coach into the room where the rest of the team was. We stood with the others as the coach began his pre-game speech.

"All right, team. This is it. The first game of the season."

"Go Lizards!"Chuck randomly shouts out, pumping his fist into the air.

"Let's kick some butt!"Jacob adds in.

Coach continued. "I know we've got a lot of new faces on this team, but I expect you to work together!"

As he said this, I noticed Adam was scowling in my direction and that just made me sigh.

"Now get out there and win!"

The team filed out onto the field and got into positions. I sat on the bench and watched Howard play in the first half along with Adam. I had to admit that Adam made some really awesome throws out there. When the buzzer sounded for half-time, Coach walked over to me.

"All right, rookie. Adam got us a nice lead, So I'm putting you in. Just make sure you don't blow it."

I glanced at the score board and saw the score was 35-21, which encouraged me a little. I grabbed my helmet and ran onto the field. The game lasted roughly an hour or so, with the final score coming to 49-35. As the rest of the team ran out to celebrate with us on the field, I noticed Adam and Bryce smile as they approached.

"Not bad, meat."

"Yeah, good game." Bryce said.

I grinned and celebrated with the team for a few minutes before we all filed into the locker room and sat around while the coach spoke.

"Good work out there, everyone." He said.

"We did it!"Chuck cheered and then he did a standing back flip, pumping his fists again.

"Woo hoo!Go Chuck!"Jacob clapped.

Howard walked over to me and grinned. "Now we just need to keep up this winning streak."

I laughed. "A winning streak of one game?"

"Hey, I'm looking on the bright side, okay?"He replied. "Today, we win a game. Tomorrow, we're State Champions..."

The coach overheard us and patted us on the shoulders. "Don't get ahead of yourself, Howard. We're going to have to train hard to beat Wilson high at the end of the season. It's going to take a lot of work... But after a game like tonight's, I think our team has what it takes."

We nod and grabbed our stuff as the team began leaving. I thought about what the coach said, but something bugged me.

"What's the big deal about Wilson?"

"They're our biggest rivals.." Chuck answered from behind me.

"And they play dirty. Watch out for them." Bryce warned was he left. Deciding to leave it at that, me and Howard headed our separate ways to home.

I went to bed early that night due to my rude awakening that morning.

Saturday, the day I was to meet Raven at her house. But I still had hours before that was to be, so I had to find something to occupy myself with for the day. TV seemed like a good option, so I sat on the couch for the entire day and watched TV, occasionally getting up to pee.

Before I knew it, I was pulling into the driveway of Raven's house and shutting my car off. It was dark out, but she had left the porch light on for me. I walked up and knocked on the door until a familiar face opened the door.

"Hey, Jason!"Raven greeted.

I was slightly taken back by what I saw. "Whoa.. You're... uh... I mean... That is to say..."

"I know, I know, "She smiled shyly. "I'm not wearing any make-up. I figured, I'm not going out and I'm not going to shock you, so what's the point?"

"Well, that makes sense. I was just starting to assume you were naturally that pale." I said innocently.

"Real cute. Now come on!"

She pulled me in and I followed her upstairs to her room. I sat on her bed and watched as she pulled out a pile of DVDs from the under her desk. "All right... I rented a bunch of these, but I haven't actually seen most of them..." She grabbed one at random and put it it, then joined me on the bed. A few minutes into the movie and I was already grossed out by it. Something about getting someone's eye cut out with a scalpel was said constantly. I wondered if these were the kind of shows Raven liked to watch, but she must have sensed my discomfort and turned to me.

"Hey... Are you okay with this movie?"

"Well... It's kind of gross to be honest." I admit.

She unexpectedly agreed with a nod. "I know, right?I am soooo not into these torture flicks! It's like, where's the suspense?Where's the drama?Where's the clever writing and the deep social metaphors?"

"_Aaaaahhh!My eye!Why would you stick that into my eye?Who does that?"_ Is what we heard from the television.

"Why don't we put another DVD in?"I offered.

So we exchanged movies and found the next one more decent then the last. We ended up watching movies for a few hours and as the fourth one played, I began feeling the effects of the night and yawned as a new scene came on.

"_No!You fool!Whatever you do, don't open the seventh door!"_

Raven poked me in the side and grinned. "Betcha ten bucks he does it!"

The movie confirmed it. _"Aaaaaaiiiiieeeeee!"_

"Hah!,"Raven smiled proudly. "How about that, Jason?... Jason?"

I quickly snapped open my eyes and realized I almost fell asleep. "Huh?Buh?Wha?"

"You were asleep!"

"No, I wasn't!I was just.. uh.. doing an extended blink!"I said nervously.

"Oh yeah?Then what's the last thing that happened in the movie?"Raven challenged.

"The.. uh..," I struggled to think. "Mummy.. Had just killed the, um, cheerleader... So the, uh, sheriff had to go and buy some silver bullets... But he got attacked on the way by the crazed cultists?" I offered.

Raven just stared at me. "Wow..."

"Was I right?"

"Not entirely... But for a guy who was snoring away thirty seconds ago, that's a pretty good guess!"She said, nodding her head.

"Hey!I might've been sleeping, but I don't snore... Do I?"I asked.

Raven simply laughed, leaving me to only wonder what the answer was. She slid over next to me on the bed and smiled.

"Well... I guess it is getting kind of late..."

"So it is..." I wondered if this was the part where I was supposed to make a move. I couldn't tell if she wanted me to or not. I decided to offer it as a joke and see how she responds.

"So, uh, maybe it's time to do something more interesting..." I said, sliding closer to her.

"Oh really?You mean, like, do some paper crafts?"She beamed.

"Uh.." I raised an eyebrow.

"I'm just kidding, you dork!Come here!"

She leaned over and locked lips with me, which I readily accepted. I loved how her lips felt on mine, how her warm lips met my cold skin. We continued kissing passionately for a few minutes, but just as we were really getting into it, Raven sharply pulled away.

"Is something wrong?"I asked, unsure if I had done something.

"Nothing... Nothing.. It's just.."She leaned back and sighed. "Look. The last relationship I was in... Things ended up moving too quickly and I got really burned. I mean, I like you a lot, Jason... But... I kind of want to go slow and keep things innocent for awhile. Is that okay?"

I shook my head, but not in a response, rather disbelief, and smiled at her.

"Of course it is. I just like spending time with you, Raven... And if that means taking it slow and getting to know each other, I'm fine with that."

She brightened up at my response and smiled warmly. "You're so sweet and understanding, Jason. Now come here... I want to give you a kiss for the road."

We kissed one last time and I left, waving goodbye as I backed out of the driveway. On the way home, I thought about what happened and just smiled and shook my head.

Just maybe...

End of Chapter Four


	5. Trouble

Chapter Five

Trouble with Wilson

I sighed as I walked around in the hallways, waiting for class to start. I hadn't gotten much sleep the night before, probably stress related, but whatever the reason I was tired. I leaned against the wall and yawned just as Raven walked by me and continued going the other way.

"Hey, Raven!" I smiled as she turned around and saw me. But to my surprise, she didn't say anything and continued walking away like I was a stranger. I stood there looking after her, trying to figure out what just happened when the bell rang. Figuring I could talk with her later, I went to English.

Ms. Prez handed out the quiz and like always, stopped at my desk to test me alone. "Jason, you know the drill."

"Number One: What is Odysseus trying to do in 'The Odyssey'?"

"Return to his homeland of Ithaca."I answered, knowing it was right considering I knew a lot about Greek history. Ms. Prez nodded and smiled.

"Number Two: What are the names of the two main characters in 'Of Mice and Men'?"

"I..don't know." I admitted.

She eyed me, then continued. "Lastly, The Scarlet Letter is..."

"M?"

"Wrong. You only got one out of three this time, Jason. I'm expecting more next time."

After English ended, I went on to my next class, which I took with Raven. I went in and saw her sitting at her desk, staring off into space. I quickly grabbed the seat beside her.

"Hey," I turned to her. "Is everything okay?You seemed kind of upset earlier.."

She didn't move for a few seconds then she finally turned to me with a hurt expression on her face. "Did you tell people that you slept over at my house on Saturday?"

I blinked in surprise at the question. "What?Of course not!Where did you hear that?"

"I overheard Taylor gossiping about it with her friends.."

"I swear, I never said that... Someone must have made it up."

She sighed and looked down. "I believe you.. But it doesn't matter. The rumor's still out there, and everyone is still pointing and whispering."

"Raven..,"I took her hand in mine. "Who cares what people think?Isn't that the whole point of being goth?Rejecting society's norms?So dumb people are spreading dumb rumors. Who cares?"

"You're... You're right. I shouldn't care what they think. I should be totally fine with it,"She looked up at me. "But I'm not, okay?And maybe that means I'm not the best goth out there, but it _does_ bother me!I've been a goth at this school for two years, Jason... Sure, it hasn't been easy, but for the most part, the people who I didn't want to deal with left me alone... And now I go on one date with you and suddenly the whole school can't shut up about me?"

I felt my heart drop as I saw just how much it bothered her. "Raven... It's just one dumb rumor.."

"It's not though!"She snapped. "Everywhere I go I see other girls pointing, staring... And if that weren't enough, my friends are starting to give me grief and distance themselves from me!I've told them you're not a typical jock, but they just don't listen..."

"So that's it?"I frowned. "You don't want to see me because your friends don't want you dating a football player?"

"I... I just need some space to figure this out, okay?"She had the same hurt expression on as she picked up her books and moved to another desk on the other side of the room.

"Raven... Are you breaking up with me?"I felt heartbroken.

She didn't answer me. Which only worsened my mood. I sat through the rest of the class glancing over at Raven and trying to think of what to do. Unfortunately, class ended before I could and Raven disappeared into the crowded hallway.

After school, I stopped by the gym though I really didn't feel like working out, but the team was counting on me to stay fit. I walked into the weight room and Chuck greeted me from his bench.

"Hey, Jason!Here to test your strength?"He grinned.

"I dunno, Chuck... I'm having kind of a bad day.." I said as I dropped onto one of the benches across from him.

"Girl trouble, eh?I can read it on your face," He smiled a bit. "Lift some weights, bro. Nothing takes away the pain of a woman like a little male bonding!"

"Well..."I sighed and grinned slightly. "I guess so."

"Take a look at this!"I turned to see Zach on the far side of the room with a few other guys and a golden dumbbell on the floor. "My dad just bought me a gold-plated dumbbell. Want to test it out?"

"That looks kind of heavy..."I comment as me and Chuck get up and walk over. "... And pointlessly expensive."

"Don't worry. If you dent it, Dad can always buy me a new one." Zach grinned.

I sighed and thought I didn't want to, I tried to lift the dumbbell. Unfortunately, my strength failed me and I ended up dropping it to the floor. This earned me a scowl from Zach.

"Man... It's all dirty from being on the floor now. Throw it away."

I rubbed the back of my neck. "But... It's... You know... Gold."

"It's just gold-_plated_. Get it out of my sight." Zach said, waving his hand in frustration.

As the guys moved the dumbbell to another room, I decided to slip out and drive home. I wasn't in the mood for dinner, so I just went straight to bed. I needed to do something about this whole situation and soon.

The next day, school flew by fast and before I knew it, I was walking to my car after football practice. I fumble for my keys in my pocket and looked up to see three guys standing around in the parking lot. I hadn't seen them around school, so I didn't know who they were. As I got closer, one of them stepped towards me. He had slick blonde hair and dark sun glasses on.

"Well, here's one of them now."

"He's kind of small for a football player, isn't he?"Said one of the other guys, he was tall, black and had a buzzcut.

"I guess they'll take anyone at this school," The first one retorted. "He wouldn't have even made it through tryouts at Wilson."

I frowned at the name. "Wilson High?I guess you guys are from their team."

"You're pretty quick."The third guy, with tan skin and a bowl cut, spoke.

"So did you just come to start some trouble?"I scowled.

"Maybe we did," The first one mocked. "What are you going to do about it?"

"It's not what I'm going to do. It's what you are going to do. I think the three of you should leave." I stepped forward and came face to face with him, scowling.

"Why don't you try to make us?" He scoffed.

The third guy laughed. "I bet this kid's all talk. No way he could handle a real right."

It was then that I spotted Adam walking around the corner and he stopped when he saw us. He looked at them, then he looked at me and quickly walked over.

"These guys giving you trouble?"He asked, cracking his knuckles and frowning at the Wilson kids.

"Nothing I can't handle." I replied.

"Heh. I like your attitude, meat."Adam grinned slightly. "But on this team we look out for each other. So I've got your back."

"Oh..Thanks. But these guys don't look all the tough."I laughed.

The first one scowled. "Is that so?"

He stepped towards me with his fist raised, but Adam stepped in between us. "Maybe you didn't understand me, Alexei. This guy's with me!"Adam growled, naming the guy.

"Yeah... Well, there's three of us... And only two of you. You've never been good at math, but even you can figure that one out."Alexei retorted.

"I could probably take you three punks on by myself!"Adam shot back.

"Okay, Adam. Let's see if you can back up all that talk."

Alexei threw his fist at Adam, but he dodged it and tackled Alexei directly into the black kid and sent all three of them to the ground. The third kid came right for me with his fist poised, but I quickly met him halfway, which caught him off guard and slammed a punch into his stomach. He fell to the ground and held his stomach in pain. With him out of the way, I quickly ran over to the scrimmage going on and pulled the black kid off of the other two.

"Thanks for the help... Not that I needed it." Adam said.

The black kid tried to shove me from behind, but I sidestepped and then shoulder-checked him and watched him stumble backwards to regain his balance. Then, out of nowhere, the calvary arrived. Chuck, Bryce and couple of other guys from the team ran up to the fight.

"What's going on here?"Bryce scowled.

"Wilson High's starting trouble, that's what." Chuck frowned.

The Wilson kids backed away, knowing they were outnumbered.

"I think we're done here,"Alexei said. "We've made our point."

The three of them turned and walked away, leaving us to tend to our bruises. I rubbed my neck and faced Adam.

"So... Uh... Thanks for helping me out back there."

"Don't thank me," He frowned. "This doesn't change anything between us, meat. But when it comes to Wilson High... Well, let's just say I've got a grudge against them. Besides, I'm not about to let you risk an injury when we've got a game to play on Friday. We need every man we can get out there."

"Oh.. Right."I had forgotten about the game.

After the commotion died down, everyone dispered. On my way home, I stopped by the gym and lifted some weights with Jacob for a few hours before I finally went home. I was exhausted from the day and bypassed dinner, falling asleep on my bed within seconds.

**Friday**

Friday finally rolled around and it was time for our second game. I met up with Howard and we made our way to the football field and then to the locker rooms. Along the way, I spotted Kay and Kel running up to us.

"Hey!We brought you something!"They handed Howard a black wallet. "We didn't like how that man with the whistle yelled at you last week... So we stole it!"

Howard's mouth dropped. "The... The man with the whistle?You stole Coach's wallet?" He scowled at his sisters. "Kay!Kel!Seriously, you can't do stuff like this!From now on, I'm forbidding you from coming to any more of my football games!"

"You can't stop us from coming to your games!You're just a big meanie!"Kel cried before she and Kay ran off.

"Oh, man...," Howard sighed. "This is bad. I guess I'd better tell Coach I 'found' his wallet.."

We entered the locker room and Howard goes up to the coach. I watched as he returned the wallet, Coach glared at him suspiciously. "I've had enough of your troublemaking, Howard... One more stunt like this, and you're off the team!Now, go get ready to play!We've got a team to beat!"

The team got suited up and then we followed Coach out onto the field. Before we started, he gave us a pre-game talk.

"Now listen up guys. Don't underestimate this team. Their defense is a mess, but they play offense like seasoned pros."

"Don't worry, Coach. We'll take care of them." Adam assured him.

Let the games begin. The teams filed onto the field and took positions. Once the whistle blew, it started. The game lasted about an hour and in the end, their offense wasn't up to par with ours. We won with a score of 21-14. We jogged off the field and back to our sidelines.

"Good work out there, Jason!"Chuck grinned as he patted me on the back.

"Not bad, meat... Not bad. "Adam said as he walked past.

After the game, I walked back into the locker room and saw Adam and Bryce going over some plays from the game.

"You see what happened?This play right here won us the game." Adam said, pointing to it in the book.

"Right. All that practice paid off." Bryce agreed.

"Man, Adam and Bryce are at it already?"Chuck said as he walked in behind me. "We've barely been off the field for five minutes."

Howard chuckled. "I guess those two never quit talking about football."

"Yeah... I guess it's kind of like Bryce is Adam's replacement for.."Chuck caught himself before saying anything more.

"For who?"I asked.

"Uh, never mind. Forget I said anything." He quickly said and left to gather his things. I shook my head and gathered my things as well, wondering what he meant by that.

**Saturday**

Without much to do, I was sitting at home watching some TV when my phone went off.

"Hello?"I answered it.

"_Jason!It's me!_,"It was Howard on the other end. "_You gotta get down to the theatre to check out the school play_!"

"No offence dude, but that's not really my scene."

"_Come on, I really need your help. Elliana said she'd be looking for me at the play tonight. And she even invited me to the cast party after the play. If I'm going to have a chance with her, I'm going to need a wingman to help me out. Look, I know you're with that goth girl, but some of us are still in the market for girlfriends._"

"Actually... I don't think Raven and I are together anymore." I said, remembering what she had said in class.

"_Huh?Oh. Sorry, man... But that means you definitely need to get down here. There are a ton of girls in this play. You're bound to find someone you like.__ And Lisa's going to be there. The two of you really seemed to hit it off. I think you've totally got a shot at dating her if you play your cards right tonight._"

"Wait a second," I sighed. "Howard, I don't know if I'm ready to start dating someone else..."

"_What kind of a friend would I be if I let you wallow in your own self-pity all night?I'm telling you, coming to this place is just what you need._"

"Well," I thought about it for a second and decided to help him out. What are friends for? "All right, I'll be there."

"_Great!You better hurry up and get down here before it starts._"

"On my way."

I hang up and grab my keys. It only took a few minutes to reach the school and once I got there, I met Howard at the play.

"You're just in time. The show's about to start. Where should we sit?"

"Down in front I guess." I shrug.

We got two spots in the very front. Howard grinned. "Awesome!We'll really be able to see the girls up close this way!And Elliana will definitely be able to tell that I showed up."

A few minutes later, the play starts and the girl's come out on stage. It was a miracle that I managed to stay awake through the entire three hours the play went on for, but somehow, I did it. After the last of the people filed off stage and the audience began exiting, I looked at Howard.

"Now what?"

"Two words. Cast. Party." He grinned. "It's at Lisa's place."

We headed outside and jumped in my car. A few minutes later, we drove up to a tall building downtown and parked. I stared straight up it as we walked to the front door. "Whoa... Lisa lives in this high-rise?"

"Dude," Howard patted my shoulder. "Lisa lives on the _top floor_!"

We quickly found the elevator and rode it all the way to the top. The penthouse we entered was insane. It was almost like a miniature mansion, with a dining room that looked like a five star restraunt. As we stepped into the room, Lisa and Elliana appeared from the crowd.

"Howard!There you are!"Elliana smiled.

"See you later, Jason,"Howard grinned. "Elliana promised she'd show me Lisa's rooftop swimming pool!"

The two quickly run off, leaving me and Lisa alone.

"Fancy seeing you here, Jason." She smiled. "I saw you in the audience... How'd you like the play?"

"Oh... The play... Wow... I laughed... I cried... I changed for the better as a person."I grinned.

"Oh really?So what did you like best about it?"

"The acting of course."

Lisa winked at me. "I don't mind a little flattery... But don't go overboard."

"Who said I was talking about you?"I inquire, raising an eyebrow.

She looked hurt when I said that, but I just grinned. "Just kidding. You were amazing."

"Hehe. You're actually kind of funny, Jason..."Lisa smiled. "Anyway, I should probably make sure the other guests aren't stealing my mom's jewellery or something.."

"Cool... I'll see you later, Lisa."

She seemed disappointed when I didn't offer to go with her, but I wasn't just wasn't interested in her like that. As she left, Howard came walking up behind me.

"Umm... I think the people here are about to start playing theatre games. That's my cue to leave."

"I'm right there with you. Let's go."I then noticed something different about him.. "But... Wait!Is that a hickey on your neck?"

Howard grinned. "Heh.. Elliana was just showing me how to do some 'Brazilian kissing'."

"Nice work, man!I knew I liked that country." I grinned as we got into the elevator and headed home.

End of Chapter Five


	6. Going Places

Chapter Six

Going Places

Monday. Which mean a quiz to start the morning off. And what made it worse, was the fact that it was a math quiz. I sighed as Mr. Russell stood beside me with quiz paper in hand.

"Okay, Jason. 4 x 4 x 4 = What?"

"64"

"Correct. 3 x 3 x 3 = What?"

"27"

"That's right. If A = 4B and A = 20, what is B?"

"5" I yawned at how easy this seemed now.

Class breezed by as I didn't pay much attention and pretty soon, the final bell was ringing. I grab my stuff and head out to my car when I saw Paula angrily storming by.

"Stupid Amanda!"She muttered. "What am I gonna do now?"

"What's wrong?"I decided to ask, stopping beside her.

"Amanda was supposed to give me a ride home today, but she got scared in Math class and went home early!Fractions get her every time.."

"I could give you a lift if you want... My car's right there..."I pointed to my old rustbucket.

"Are you kidding me?"Paula scowled. "In _that_ piece of junk?If anyone sees me in that, my popularity will plunge so fast I'll have to take Spud to Homecoming!Just looking at it makes me want to shower and get a tetanus shot..."

"Okay, okay. I get it." I frown, knowing fully well my car wasn't very cool.

Suddenly, a large van full of students pulled up next to us, blasting loud techno music. A handsome guy with brown hair jelled back in an casual jacket leaned out. I recognized him as Hector. "Yo, Paula!Looks like you need a ride in the Party Van!"

"Yeah, Paula,"Jacob peeked out as well. "Come on!This van's a blast!"

"Wow, thanks, Hector!You're the best." Paula smiled and hopped in, then the van sped off.

I stood there looking at my car and then sighed. I really needed to get an upgrade.

The next day, I was walking to the cafeteria for lunch when Dinah pulled me aside in the hallway.

"Hey, Jason." She said.

"Dinah?What do you want?"I asked.

"Do you have a minute?I need to talk to you about Raven..."

"What's going on?"

Dinah rubbed her arm. "I know what happened between you two... And I think I know a way that you can patch things over."

I frowned. "You want me to patch things over?You're one of the reasons she broke up with me!"

"I know, I know," She sighed. "And I feel really bad. She's just been so sad the last few days... She hasn't been herself at all... She really misses you, Jason... And I'm sure you miss her too."

"I do miss her... But I'm pretty sure she doesn't want to see me."

"Look. This weekend is the Vampire Ball,"Dinah offered a sympathetic smile. "It's this big goth party where we all get together and role-play as if we were vampires. I know she said she needed space... But she'd be absolutely thrilled if she saw you there!I'm sure she'd realize just how much you mean to her... Will you go?"

Thinking for a second, I decided. "I'll be there."

"You'll do it?Really?"

"I can't believe I'm going to attend a Vampire Ball... But yeah, for Raven, I guess I will."I grinned.

"That is _so _cute!"Dinah beamed. "You're going to make her so happy, Jason... I know it!"

"I sure hope so..."

School ended and I made my way to the field for practice. As I entered the locker room, I noticed Howard was scribbling on a piece of paper on the bench. I walked over to him and peered at the paper.

"What's that?You're not doing homework, are you?"I mocked.

"No,"Howard said. "I'm trying to come up with a play for the team. After the prank my little sisters pulled, I'm still on thin ice with Coach... But I figured this might get me back onto solid ground."

"Let me see."

We spent the next few minutes going over the play and discussing different positions. After a few changes, I grinned.

"There, that looks good. I think this just might work!"

Howard smiled. "Nice. Thanks for helping. But Coach will never look at it if he knows I worked on it. He thinks I'm just a slacker."

"I have an idea." I said, grabbing the play and leaving it beside the Coach's playbook.

"Heh, that's perfect!Now we just have to wait to see what he thinks of it.."Howard beamed.

Once everyone was there, Coach ran us through a brutal set of exercises and drills for a good half hour before he ended the practice. As me and Howard walked into the locker room afterwards, we saw Coach looking at Howard's play and scratching his head in confusion.

"Where did this play come from?"He muttered.

I stepped forward, acting as if I just happened to see it. "Oh, I think Howard was working on that play earlier. It must have gotten mixed up with your playbook."

"Huh?Howard came up with this?"After looking at it for a few seconds, Coach grinned. "This is a solid play!I guess he's more serious about football than I thought!"

Across the locker room, I shot Howard a thumbs up. After everyone left, we gathered our things and headed out.

We had practice on Thursday and once I got there and began, I was approached by Adam who was frowning.

"Hey, meat!Your runs are looking sloppy out there."

"Whatever, man..."I brushed him off. "I can still run circles around you."

What he said next surprised me. "Look. I'm not here to get into a fight... I'm here to try to teach you something... For the sake of the Fighting Lizards. It's a special move that'll boost your game, But honestly, I don't think your pathetic legs are strong enough to handle it!"

Frowning, I sprinted to the end zone and back. Adam nodded.

"Not bad, meat... You might actually be strong enough to learn this... Check this out."

Me and Adam worked on the move for a little while and next thing we knew, practice was over. We sat in the grass trying to catch our breath while the rest of the team left the field.

"I guess you could be a lot worse," Adam said. "For the team's sake, I hope you learned something."

I grinned. "We'll see in the next game."

The next morning, I went downstairs to grab some breakfast when my parents strolled into the room arguing about something.

"I said no, and I mean it!"My dad frowned. "That woman is not setting foot in this house!Not after last time!"

My mom returned the frown. "She's my sister and she can visit whenever she wants!"

"She gave me three ulcers!And one of my ulcers had its own smaller ulcer!The doctor had never seen anything like it!"Dad exclaimed.

I immediately knew who they were talking about. "Uh oh... Is Aunt Bertha in town?"

"Yes, she is," My mom answered. "And she's coming to dinner tonight!... And wait a minute... What do you mean 'uh oh'?"

"Nothing!I just, uh, have a football game tonight!"I said.

My mom nodded. "Well, be sure to rush home right after. Your aunt will definitely want you to be here when she reads her latest excerpts from her autobiography!"

"And you're not weaseling out of this,"My dad frowned. "If I'm going to suffer, so should you."

"And you'll _both_ be on your best behavior!"Mom threatened.

Me and my dad didn't have anything further to say, mostly because we feared getting into prolonged arguments with mom.

Later that day at lunch, I overhead Amanda and Taylor talking while on my way to sit with Howard.

"Hey... Wait a second... Are wearing Paula's skirt?"Taylor asked.

"Yup!We're BFFs now!"Amanda beamed.

"But... I thought we were BFFs!"

"We are!"

Taylor frowned. "But... But you can't be BFFs with two people!Plus Paula is really mean to you!"

"I know," Amanda shrugged. "But she's really cool... And she's got awesome clothes to lend me."

"But... We were going to get revenge, take Paula down... Rule the school ourselves!"

"I know... But look!This skirt is _so_ cute!"

"I..I know it is." Taylor admitted. "But one day, mark my words, I'm taking Paula down... And then I'll be the most popular girl at school!"

Amanda seemed to have lost interest as she dug into her pocket and pulled something out. "Ooo!I found a piece of candy in my pocket!"

"Never... Never mind." Taylor said. "Oh!Here comes Jason..."

I walked over and stopped by there table. "Hey girls."

"Hi, Jason... Hey, have you heard the new Caniohead album?"

"I can't understand a word Tim Yolk says... That dude is such a mumbler!"

Taylor frowned. "Well, maybe you're not listening closely enough!"

Sighing, I continued on my way to Howard. I should probably give up trying to please those girls, as it seems I can't quite get the hang of it.

After school ended, I headed out to the field for the game. I suited up and followed the team out. Coach put me on the bench for the first half while Adam and Howard were called in. While I sat there watching, A little kid came running up and tapped me on my shoulder.

"Hey, Jason!It's me, Elmo!Sorry you're not playing right now..."He said.

"Um... Hi, Elmo. Who are you again?"I asked, not quite sure if I should know him or not.

"I'm your biggest fan!That's who!You're my favorite football player!I just know you're gonna make the pros."

I smiled at him. "Gee, thanks, kid."

"Sure thing!"He smiled back. "Good luck. I hope you get to play in the second half!Remember me, Elmo, your biggest fan!"

The kid ran off and I turned my attention back to the game. I did so just in time to see Howard going long down field for a pass. To my horror, I watched as two large guys tackle Howard to the ground just as he dives for the football. For a few seconds, he just laid there, unmoving. Someone went over to check on him.

"Hey!Howard's out cold!"Chuck called out.

Jacob cleared the area arround him. "Everyone, get away from him!Give him some air!"

I quickly ran out and pushed my way through to Howard. "It doesn't look like he's waking up!"

"Can we get a stretcher out here?"Coach shouted.

"Coach, is he going to be okay?"I asked, worried.

"The doctors will take care of him," He replied as they made way for the nurses to take him on the stretcher. "For now, concentrate on fooball. Jason, Get in there!Since Howard's out, we're going to change our strategy and run the ball every play!"

Everyone cleared off the field except for the players and the game resumed. It wasn't easy, but we managed to pull off a win even with our loss. The final score was 35-28 and after congratulating the other team on a good game, I quickly ran to the sidelines where Adam met me.

"Hey, Jason. Good game. I know it's tough playing when you're worried about Howard."He said.

"Yeah... I hope he's okay."

"Me too..."Chuck walked up and took his hat off, running a hand over his head. "I've had enough concussions to know they're no picnic."

"Maybe Coach talked to the doctors..."Bryce offered.

We waved the coach. "Coach, is there any word on Howard?"I asked.

"He's at the hospital. You can go see if there's any news on how he's doing."

I quickly gathered my things and drove to the hospital. I asked where he was at the front desk and she guided me to the seating area. I saw that Howard's parent's were already waiting there. They acknowledged me with nods.

"I just know he'll be fine. I just know it." His mom was saying.

His father sighed. "He's a tough kid. He'll oull through.."

We turned to see a doctor enter dragging Kay and Kel by the arms behind her. "I'm sorry. Howard can't have any visitors right now."

"Let go!We need to see Howard!"Kay frowned.

"We have to tell him that we put spiders in his car and deleted all the numbers in his cell phone!"Kel cried.

Howard's mom quickly grabbed her daughters. "Katherine! Kelly Marie!I told you to get a snack and come right back here!"

"But.."

"We were just.."

"Girls,"Howard's dad intervened. "Now's not the time. We all want to make sure Howard's okay, but we need to trust the doctor."

"How... How is he, doctor?"Howard's mom asked.

"He still hasn't woken up, and we're running some tests. It will take a while, so you might as well head home for the night." She said.

That's when I remembered that my Aunt Bertha was coming over for dinner and my mom would kill me if I didn't show up. But... I decided to stay longer, for Howard's sake. Me and his family were waiting in the seating area for a few hours before the doctor came back out.

"I see you're still waiting here. Howard's awake now. He's going to be okay."

Howard's dad grinned. "That's my boy!"

"Can we see him, doctor?"His mom asked.

"We'll keep him in the hospital overnight just to make sure everything is normal. But you're welcome to talk to him for a few minutes. Follow me."

We followed her back into the room and Howard was sitting up in bed, and he gave us sympathetic smile. "Hey... You guys must have been waiting forever."

"It _was_ forever!"Kel cried.

"It wasn't so bad." I offered.

"Thanks, Jason, for waiting. You're a good friend." Howard said.

I waited around for a little while longer until Howard finally sent me home to get some rest. Giving in, I drove home and quietly entered the house. Unfortunately, my parents were waiting for me in the living room and they were not happy.

"What are you doing getting back so late?"My mom scolded. "We were so worried!"

"I'm sorry... Howard got knocked out. I didn't want to leave the hospital until he woke up.."

"Well, you missed your Aunt Bertha."

"Boy, you don't know the horrors I had to endure.."My dad gritted through his teeth.

"Dear, be quiet!We're trying to punish him!"Mom said.

I frowned. "For sticking by Howard's side when he needed me?"

My parents stared me down for a few moments and I stared back. Finally, my mom sighed and hugged me.

"Sorry, honey."

"You did the right thing, boy." Dad said, softening up. "Just don't abandon me when I'm with that woman again!She read a section of her memoirs to us out loud. It was truly chilling."

"I believe you..."I assured him.

"Let's all get to bed now. It's late."My mom said.

"Goodnight, Mom, Dad. Thanks for being so understanding."

I went upstairs and quickly fell asleep. It was another exhausting day and tomorrow would probably be no better.

End of Chapter Six


	7. Reunited

Chapter Seven

Reunited

I took a deep breath as I pulled up to the address Dinah gave me and found it to be a large, industrial warehouse. I prayed I was at the right place and parked. I walked into he warehouse and found it packed full of goths, huddled together and dancing to an eerie funeral song. It was the right place, but I didn't know how I was going to find Raven in that mass since everyone wore the same thing. I searched for a few minutes, but go nowhere. Deciding to take a more aggressive approach, I shoved my way through the mass, pushing past tall men in dark coats, girls in leather corsets and what looked like an albino clown.

I spotted Raven standing at the other end of the room, thankfully. I shove out of the herd and waved to her.

"Raven!"

Her mouth dropped as I walked up to her, her face a mixture of shock and surprise.

"Jason?What are you doing here?This place is for goths only!"She exclaimed.

"Well in that case..."I grinned. "I guess I'm just going to have to be a goth for the night!"

"You'd do that?For me?What if someone on your team found out about this?"

"I don't care what they think. I want to be with you, Raven. That's what matters... That's _all_ that matters." I said, my grin turning into a gentle smile.

"Jason... I... I..."

Raven quickly closed the distance between us and immediately kissed me. She pulled away and smiled shyly.

"I missed you too. And I'm so, so happy you're here!"

"So, is there some sort of special vampire dance I'm supposed to know?"I asked amusingly.

"Follow my lead!"Raven wrapped her arms around my neck and I put mine around her waist as we swayed gently to the music. After a few minutes, she looked up at me guiltily.

"I'm so sorry I pushed you away... It was such a mistake... I just... I was just afraid of change... But now I realize that I was just afraid of losing you."

"Just don't let it happen again, okay?"I grinned.

"I promise!"She beamed.

We continued to dance for a while and then, the singer tapped the mic and a spotlight shone down on me. "What's going on?"

"Attention everyone," The singer announced. "We've been given some very disturbing news. According to some complaints... We've got an imposter in our midst!"

He hopped off stage and strolled towards me through the crowd. The music stopped and everyone just stood by and silently watched as he walked up to me.

"The rumor going around is... You don't belong here!"

"What?I belong here!I even bought novelty vampire fangs!"I pulled them out of my pocket and showed him.

"Pointy teeth do not make you a Nosferatu!"He frowned.

I simply lifted an eyebrow. "Would it look bad if I admitted I have no idea what you just said?"

"There's only one way to settle this!"The singer announced.

"A fight to the death?"I offered.

"No!Vampire trivia!"

"Oh boy."

"Answer these three questions and perhaps you will be spared!"He hissed. "Which of these does not hurt a vampire?"

He read off the answers and they were all the stereotypical things in movies that hurt vampires. Garlic, sunlight, stake through the heart and silver bullets. I went for the last one and watched the singer frown.

"Impressive.. But a lucky guess! Before entering a stranger's house, a vampire must..?"

I knew this from a movie I had watched. "Be invited in first."

"That's correct... But anyone could have guessed that!Which of these is not a famous vampire?"

I had to laugh when he said one of the choices was Edward Cullen. But I knew the answer to this one as well.

"Otto von Bismark."

"Yes, yes...That's correct." The singer seemed to be reluctantly giving me credit. A hushed silence filled the room as the he reviewed my score.

"Well... Did I pass?"

The singer looked at me wide-eyed. "You... You did!I can't believe it!You're a real vampire!"

"I am?"I said before correcting myself. "I mean, uh, I am!And, uh, how dare you even question my authority!I'm a, uh, Super Cleric Ultra Vampire!Rank Five!"

"My apologies, my lord!My deepest apologies!I had no idea!"

"You're lucky I don't strike you down right here, you cur!Now go back to making merriment!Chop Chop!" I clapped my hands.

"Of course!Forgive me!"The singer bowed before me and then quickly returned to the stage and started another song. Everyone went back to dancing and didn't pay me any more attention.

"Wow!"Raven smiled. "That was amazing!How did you know what to say?"

"I don't know... Maybe I'm just a natural!"I grinned.

"Well then... How about showing me how a natural vampire dances?"She challenged.

"You're on!"

We began swaying to the music again and this time, we were uninterrupted. The Vampire Ball ended a few hours later and I drove Raven home once it did. We sat on her porch for a few moments before she smiled at me.

"Thanks so much for coming, Jason. I had a really good time."

"Does this mean we're officially back together?"I inquired.

"Well... If I know my vampire lore..."

She stood on her toes and bit me on the neck. I looked at her wide eyed and rubbed my neck, but she simply grinned.

"Now we're officially back together!"

"You're insane, you know that?"I chuckled. "Insane."

"Heh. See you around, Jason!"

Raven kissed me on the cheek and went inside. I stood on her porch for a few extra moments, took a deep breath and then walked to my car. This was turning out to be a pretty good night after all.

The next day in class, I didn't mind the history quiz we had coming. I was still hung up over last night and it pretty much brighten my entire mood up. Mrs. Swovelin walked up and stopped beside me with paper in hand.

"Okay, Jason. Here we go. The Battle of the Bulge took place in..."

"World War 1?"I shrug.

"That's wrong. Who led the Greek city-states in the Battle of Thermopylae?"

"Sparta!_This is Sparta!_"I shouted while throwing my fist up, though a little louder than I wanted. Mrs. Swovelin frowned at me and I just smiled sheepishly.

"Final one... That Mason-Dixon Line was commonly seen to separate..."

"North and South America."

"Correct. You got two of three right... Keep it up, Jason."

The rest of school flew by in a blur and next I found myself at practice after school. It last half an hour and was pretty brutal compared to others. After it was over, we headed to the locker room where I noticed something was off.

"How come Adam wasn't at practice today?He never misses practice."I inquire, looking around.

"You don't know?"Bryce said. "He's in the library... Studying."

"What?"

"Adam's failing algebra." He explained.

"If he doesn't get his grades up, he's not going to be playing in the game this Friday." Chuck said.

"I hate to say it, but we're really going to need him in that game..." Howard sighed.

Chuck tried to rally the troops. "All right, team. We've got to pull together."

Howard looked at me. "Hey, Jason, you're a smart guy. Aren't you aceing your classes?"

"Uh... I guess I'm doing all right. But Adam and I don't exactly get along."

"Come on, man. I know you guys have had your differences, but our team needs this win... And we both know it's going to be a lot tougher without Adam."

"Yeah, so how about it?Are you going to help?"Chuck asked.

I thought it over for a minute, weighing my options and just decided what was best for the team. "Sure. I'll help him. He and I don't always get along, but this is about doing what's best for the team."

"Awesome. I'll let him know." Chuck said.

The next after school ended, I met Adam at the library and we sat down at a table.

"Uh, hey." He seemed pretty nervous.

"Hey."

"Look... This is really decent of you, kid. I guess I had you pegged wrong." He admitted.

"No problem. Let's get to work."I said.

We spend the next half hour working on different problems and sets. I helped Adam along the way by showing him how to work the answers out and showed him what he was doing wrong.

"That looks right..."He commented on a problem he solved by himself. I looked at it and then grinned.

"Yeah... I think you've got it."

"Good thing you're better at math than you are at football." He said.

"Hey!"

"Just messin' with you, meat. You really came through for me today." Adam rubbed his neck. "Thanks."

"Don't mention it. Anything for the team, right?"I shrugged.

"Right. I guess you really are a team player."

The next day at lunch, I was sitting down eating when Raven sat next to me.

"Heya. You got plans this Saturday?"She asked, poking my side.

"Nope!Let's hang out." I offered.

"Sure!What do you want to do?"

Thinking of my options, I decided to go out on a limb and suggested the mall. She seemed reluctant to agree.

"The mall?Seriously?"

"I promise you it'll be fun. I went to your concert, didn't I?"I said.

"Well, okay... But just this one time!"She gave in.

After school, when I hit the gym, I noticed the Buff Club guys hanging out in the weight room. I waved as I entered.

"Jason... You're here on a truly great day for the Buff Club!"Chuck exclaimed.

"Today we're trying to bench press... A cheerleader!" Zach explained.

"Uh, yeah.. About that." I was surprised to see Paula standing by the wall. "You can lift Amanda. Not me."

"Uh... Yeah. And I'll just watch from way over here." Taylor said, stepping away from the group.

Amanda simply clapped her hands cheerfully. "This is going to be fun!"

"Just don't get too grabby, Jason!She _is_ my girlfriend!"Zach warned me.

"Oh, relax, sweetie... I'm only here because I heard lifting weights helps you get in good shape." Amanda said.

I raised an eyebrow. "Uh, yeah, but not if you _are_ the weight."

"Okay, Jason... Time to see if you can lift Amanda!"Zach said.

I shrugged and laid on my back on the ground. Amanda stood beside and prepared to fall. Zach counted to three and then she fell. Fortunately, I was strong enough to catch her and lift her up. She giggled and clapped her hands.

"Wheee!This is fun!It's just like when Jacob and I went to the cave at the beach!"

Zach frowned as he looked between Amanda and Jacob. "Wait, what?What cave?What beach?What did you and Jacob do?"

"Aw jeez, Amanda, you weren't supposed to tell him about that.."Jacob sighed.

"Tell me about what?"Zach scowled. "What did you do with my girlfriend?Get over here, you little..."

"No!Don't hit me!I'm an easy bruiser!I have very delicate skin!"Jacob pleaded as he dove out of the room, followed by Zach sprinting like a bull after him.

"Don't hurt him, Zach!We need him for the team!"Chuck called out before chasing after them. In the meantime, I gently set Amanda down and got up, brushing myself off. I saw Paula rolling her eyes at the sight.

"Ugh, boys are _so_ dumb..."

"Yeah, but look how strong Jason is!"Taylor grinned. "Check out those arms..."

I simply grinned back, glad that all that hard work was now paying off.

"Hee!I love the _Ruff _Club!"Amanda giggled. "When do the puppies get here?"

At lunch the next day, I sat with Howard and some of the guys from the team.

"Man... I'm so pumped for the Homecoming Dance in a couple weeks..."Howard beamed.

Chuck smiled. "Me too!I'm going solo and hoping to pick up a lonely girl on the dance floor..."

"I might do that too..."Jacob nodded. "Or I might wait for some girl's boyfriend to dump her... And then swoop in and look like a hero!"

"Guys!What's wrong with you?"Howard said. "You need to find a sweet girl like I did and take her to the dance!"

"It's gonna be fun... I wonder who's going to be Homecoming King and Queen.."Jacob said.

"Maybe it'll be Jason." Chuck laughed.

"Haha!Nice one, Chuck. No offense, Jason, but you're not exactly the most popular dude at school."

I shrugged it off and continued eating. Soon though, the bell rung and that meant no more food.

The big day for the football game arrived and me and Howard headed to the field to suit up. When we got there, I saw the twins waiting for us by the locker room entrance.

"Howard!"They yelled as they ran up to us. "We need money for... Snacks."

"If I give you some money, will the two of you _please_ lay off the pranks?" He asked.

"Sure!"Kel grinned.

Reluctantly, Howard handed them a few bucks and watched as they ran off giggling. "Let's hope that keeps them out of trouble... This game is going to be tough enough without any distractions."

We walked over to where the team was gathered after suiting up and arrived just as the coach began speaking.

"Okay, team. This isn't going to be easy, but I think we can do it."

"Good thing we've got Adam here with us." Chuck commented.

"It's all thanks to Jason." Adam said.

Coach smiled. "Good to see everyone getting along for once... Now get out there and win this game!"

We cheered and ran out onto the field. The game started and we set off to win us a game. It was an easy win for us, as the final score turned out to 49-21. After congratulating the other team on a good game, we jogged over to the sidelines and celebrated with rest of the guys.

"Good work out there, Jason!"Coach commented.

"You really pulled your weight this game!"Bryce said, slapping me on the back.

"At this rate, we just might beat Wilson High."

Chuck grinned. "Are you kidding?They don't stand a chance."

Out of the corner of my eye, I spotted Kay and Kel running up to Howard with big smiles on their faces.

"Good work, Howard!"Kay said.

They handed him five bucks and patted his arm since they couldn't reach his shoulders. "There's your cut. Just make sure you keep winning."

"My 'cut'?What are you talking about?"Howard asked. "Were you betting on the game?"

"Of course... We had to make it interesting."Kel shrugged.

Howard frowned. "I thought I told the two of you to stay out of trouble!"

"We thought you'd be happy... At least we were betting you'd win!"

I couldn't help but laugh at the sight. Those two sure seemed like a real handful.

Saturday came and I spent most of the day studying. Who knew a 'jiffy' really existed?Not me. After a few hours of reading, I checked the time and smiled. It was time to hit the mall. I grabbed my keys and drove on over to Raven's place. After she got in and we exchanged greetings, I sped off. Luckily, I was able to park up near the front entrance when another car pulled out.

"Awesome parking spot!It always takes me half an hour to find the perfect spot..."Raven commented as we got out.

"Yeah, but you drive around in an old hearse!"I grinned.

"Says the guy who drives around in a rust bucket,"She countered. "Anyway, what store do you wanna go to first?"

"Hmm... How about Sparkle, Glitter, Halter Top?" I offered, more out of humor than actuality, as we walked into the mall.

"Seriously?"Raven lifted an eyebrow.

I shrugged. "I mean, I know it's a reach and it's probably not your kinda store, but..."

"No, no, you don't understand." She smiled. "I love that place!It's totally the best place to people-watch!You hear people say the most ridiculous things!"

So we made our way to the second floor and found the store. We walked in and when nobody was looking, quickly hid inside one of the shirt racks. A few minutes later, we had our first victims and I grinned when I heard who it was.

"Omg, Taylor, you can't seriously be thinking of wearing that to school on Monday..."Paula said.

"Why not?"Taylor replied. "It's a cute pink strapless top, and Monday is 'Cute Pink Strapless Top Day', isn't it?"

"No, idiot! That's the third Monday of the month, not the second!Second Mondays are for 'Tops That Are Just Too Revealing For School, But We Wear Them Anyway!'. Do you need me to get the spreadsheet?Because I'll go get the spreadsheet..."

We listened for a few more minutes and when the two weren't paying attention, we snuck out the back of the rack and out of the store.

"Point proven?"Raven grinned as we began walking.

"Point proven." I chuckled.

The mall was pretty crowded and we had to weave our way through random patches of people as we browsed the area. After a while of doing so, Raven tapped my shoulder.

"Hey, while we're here... My aunt is getting married in a couple weeks, and I sort of need to pick up a dress..."

"Black fishnets and a choker aren't cutting it?"I grinned.

"Real funny. Do you mind if I duck into this dress store?"She pointed to the place just ahead.

"Sure, lets do it!"

We headed into the classy store and were amazed at how big the inside was. It was like a combination of the last few stores we went to put together.

"Wow, this place is big..."Raven commented. "Jason, can you give me a hand?"

I stared at her for a minute before she continued. "Why don't you go check over there for a dress you think I'll look nice in, and I'll check over here." She said.

"Uh... Okay." I shrugged, walked to the far side of the store and started flipping through the racks. I noticed a few that I thought were good; A black one that had a low cut and another that had a vintage feel to it. For a few minutes I stared at the two and pondered over which to bring. I eventually decided on the vintage, as I thought that if I brought the other one, it might look like I was more concerned with how hot she'd look instead of something for a wedding. So I grabbed the latter and walked over to Raven, who was still flipping through dresses.

"Hey... What do you think of this?"I asked.

She looked at it and then smiled. "Oh, Jason... It's lovely!"

"So you like it?I was afraid it was a little dated..."

"Are you kidding?I love vintage clothing!This thing's a great find!"She beamed and kissed me on the cheek. "I'll go try it on, okay?"

I watched as she walked off to the changing rooms and shut the door. It took a few minutes for her to change, so I rocked on my heels and looked around as I waited. A couple moments later, the door opened and she came out in the dress. I almost dropped my jaw when I saw her.

"Wow... You look... You look..." I cursed myself for not being able to form the right words. It seems I never was good in situations like this.

"What is it?Do I look okay?"She asked, slightly worried.

"Yes!Of course!You look... Amazing!"

"Really?You think so?"

"I really do. You look absolutely _amazing_."I grinned.

"Thanks, Jason!"She smiled. "This dress is a keeper!"

I lifted an eyebrow. "Promise you'll wear it for me sometime?"

"Only if I can get you in a velvet cape and some black leather!"She countered.

Shrugging, I walked to the cashier and paid for the dress. Leaving the store, we bummed around the mall for a few hours until it closed and then I drove Raven home. I walked her to her porch and instead of going inside, she turned to me and smiled.

"You know, I'll be honest. I thought that was going to be kind of lame... But it was actually a lot of fun."

I chuckled. "I told you the mall can be a good time."

"I don't know if it was the mall..."She shrugged. "I think I just had a good time with you."

"Maybe." I grinned as I leant forward and kissed her on the lips. She smiled shyly at me when we broke away.

"Good night, Jason."

"Good night, Raven. See you around."

Winking at her, I turned and walked back to my car, though I didn't leave right away. I simply sat in the driver's seat and sighed, leaning back and closing my eyes. For the next few minutes, I wondered if I could make this last forever and never let this day end. Unfortunately, I didn't have that kind of luck and one look at the clock motivated me to start the car and head home.

End of Chapter Seven


	8. One Week Until Homecoming!

Chapter Eight

One Week Until Homecoming!

I headed to class for my usual weekly quiz, but walked in to find the room virtually empty. The only person in there was Howard, who was hunched over his desk, writing on a piece of paper.

"Uh... Where is everyone?"I asked, walking up to him.

"What?"He looked up at me, surprised. "Didn't you hear?We're supposed to be 'studying' since it's the week before finals!... In fact, any homework you do this week counts as extra credit... It might be a good time to get your GPA up now... Just in case you bomb your finals like I always do."

"Yeah... Good point..."I couldn't help but notice that I seemed to constantly be left out of the latest news circle or something.

"Anyway, for now I'm going to throw some watermelons off the roof of the gym. Want to come?"

I grinned. "Definitely."

At lunch the next day, I was eating with some of the guys from the team when I saw Adam walk up and stand beside me.

"Hey, meat." He greeted. "You really came through for me last week. Thanks, man."

"Oh.. No problem."

Without another word, he walked off and left the cafeteria. I simply watched as he did and then turned back to my food.

"Huh... Most of the time, I think Adam hates my guts... But sometimes he's actually nice to me. I don't get that guy.."

"Adam?There's a lot you don't know about him." Bryce said.

"Like what?"

"His brother died in a car crash over the summer... Some drunk hit him head-on as he was driving home." He explained, shaking his head. "He was our age too."

"I... had no idea..."I said in shock.

"Well, you've got to understand,"Bryce continued. "Adam's still pretty messed up over that. He wasn't always so angry. When his brother died, something in him just snapped... Now the football team is the most important thing to him."

I rubbed my neck out of nervous habit. "I... I didn't realize... I thought he was just..."

"A jerk?Life's never that simple."

As Bryce went back to eating, I thought about what he said as I finished my meal and got up. On my way to class, I couldn't help but wonder how much more I had yet to learn about Adam.

The next morning, I was sitting at my table eating breakfast when my dad walked in and stood with his arms crossed.

"Son, I just got off the phone with your guidance counsellor..."

I nearly coughed up the orange juice I was drinking. "Ms. Lee called you?"

"That's right. She had some _very_ interesting things to say about you!"He stared at me for a few moments, letting me sit in my own aura of confusion and nervousness before a grin came onto his face. "She said you've been pulling a 3.33 GPA!Way to go, son!"

"Wait..."I thought for a second, then smiled. "Does this mean I get the new car?"

"Don't get too excited. If you want those wheels, you better keep that GPA up 'til the end of the semester... and that means making it through finals!" He laid a hand on my shoulder and crouched beside my chair. "I've seen finals break far stronger men than you, son... Far. Stronger. Men."

I chuckled nervously as he said that and then left. I couldn't tell if he was joking or not.

Later on that same week, I grabbed lunch and sat down at my usual table, when Paula suddenly sat down across from me.

"Hey there, Jason... I heard you were thinking about trying to be Homecoming King."

I cursed Howard and his big-mouth. Now it seemed the whole school knew.

"Well, look,"She continued. "I'm in charge of the Homecoming Committee, and I just wanted to let you know... You really ought to just quit. The Homecoming King is supposed to be cool... And you're definitely not cool!"

"Come on, I'm not that lame.."

"Oh yeah?If you're so cool, tell me what happened on the season finale of 'Gossip Grill'!"

"Uh, I didn't really watch that..."I admitted. "There was a documentary on last night about the high score in 'Monkey Pong' and the vicious rivalry to obtain it..."

Paula just frowned. "I know you're saying words, but all I hear is 'Lame lame lame. I'm so lame. Please slap me because I'm the lamest guy ever'."

I raised an eyebrow as she got up and left. Man, that girl was just downright harsh sometimes. I seriously have not had one good run in with her ever since I got here.

Before I knew it, Thursday came and I found myself at practice. As I suited up and headed out to the field, I was met halfway by Adam.

"Hey, meat. I think it's finally time for me to show you Centerscore High's most closely guarded secret."He said. "... It's _The Lizard Spiral Pass_!This this thing leaves my hands and drops into the receiver's arms at four times the speed of sound. So only the strongest players can learn it! One day, long after I've graduated, you might actually become QB, so I'd better teach you this move... If you're good enough, that is. Here's the deal... Go long. If you catch it, I'll teach you how to throw it."

I nodded and quickly sprinted down the field. Adam threw it far and it almost hit the ground, but I managed to make a diving catch and snag it just in time. I jogged back and handed him the ball.

"Not bad, meat. I didn't think you had it in you." He said.

I grinned. "Don't you ever get tired of being wrong?"

"Look,"He frowned. "Do you want to learn this pass or not?Now come here...You have to hold the ball like this..."

We spent the next few hours going over the pass and trying to get me to perfect it. By the end of practice, I was throwing it over the goal post.

"You're a quick learner, meat..."Adam commented as we finished up and gathered our things. "I'm actually impressed."

"Thanks, man... Coming from you, that means a lot." I said.

With my stuff in hand, I headed to the parking lot. As I walked to my car, I noticed several guys crowded around Hector's van, some of whom I recognized.

"Dude, that is so sick!"Zach exclaimed. "You've got the speakers wired to the inside and hooked into your turntable!You're like a travelling DJ!"

Jacob ran a hand over his jelled hair. "This must've cost a fortune!"

"What can I say?No expense is too great for the Party Van!"Hector grinned.

Seeing them drool over his van made me a little impatient to get my new car and show it off. Of course, I'd have to pass finals first.

"So, what's the deal with Homecoming?Are you gonna DJ?"Zach asked.

"Naw, the principal says I can't. She thinks I'm too 'edgy' or something..."Hector frowned.

"Well dude, you did drive by her blasting Li'l Trayne's 'The No-Pants Society'.."Jacob shrugged.

The edgy DJ sighed at the comment.

A few days later and it was time for our next game. As I walked to the locker room with the rest of the team, I saw Jacob dragging the twins over to me.

"Hey!Where's Howard?"He frowned. "I found his sisters putting soap in our water bottles!"

Kel struggled against his grip. "Let go of us!You can't prove anything!"

I sighed. "Jacob, we're got bigger things to worry about. The game's about to start and Howard still isn't here. He said he had to run some errands before hand, but he should have been here by now."

Suddenly, my phone started vibrating in my pocket. I quickly pulled it out, putting it on speakerphone when I was the ID.

"Where are you?"

"_Jason!_"It was Howard. "_I'm not going to make it to the game!_"

"Why not?What happened to you?"

"_Someone slashed my tires!_"There was a pause. "_I've got to go... The tow truck's here._"

Adam scowled as I hung up.

"I know what's going on. It's Wilson High. They're messing with us."

"Howard's not coming?"Kel looked disappointed. "Because of some big dummies from Wilson High?"

"That's what it looks like, kiddo." I patted her head.

Kay frowned. "Come on, Kel. We're got some planning to do."

"I guess we're going to have to play this game without Howard..." I said.

"Since Howard's out,"Adam frowned. "We're not going to have many chances to get a receiver open."

"I guess we've got to make every play count..." Jacob sighed.

We quickly suited up and after making some alterations with Coach once we told him the news, the game started. Adam was right, We didn't have many opportunities to go long. Sometimes it seemed they would win, others us. Somehow though, yet even with the lack of a receiver, we pulled off a miracle and won with an impressive 21-7 lead.

"Good work, team." Coach congratulated us as we jogged off the field. "You really pulled together and tore that other team apart!"

"I'm so happy I'm going to try a double backflip!"Chuck exclaimed. He tried to do it, but ended up falling on his head instead. He quickly got up and rubbed his head. "Uh.. Don't worry... I'm fine. Luckily, I've got a thick skull."

"It was still pretty impressive, dude." Jacob said.

Chuck grinned. "What's going to be impressive is when we beat Wilson next week!"

"Yeah. I'm tired of those guys messing with us." Bryce scowled.

I was about to follow them into the locker room, but a kid ran up and stopped in front of me. It was the same kid from that one time.

"Hey, remember me?" He asked.

"Sure. My biggest fan, right?"I smiled.

"You got it!"He beamed. "Hey, would you mind signing my football?Here's a pen."

He handed them to me and watched excitedly as I signed it.

"To... Elmo... My biggest... Fan." I handed the ball back to him afterwards and he gave me a big smile.

"Thanks, Jason! You're the greatest!"

Out of nowhere, Taylor walked up and patted Elmo's head. He quickly told her what I did and she smiled at me.

"You made my little brother so happy. What a cool guy."

She took her brother and left, just as I turned to see that Howard had made it and was running over to me. He grinned as he saw Taylor walking off.

"Nice job, man!Taylor is one of the most popular girl's in school. This is going to do wonders for you socially."

I shrugged. "All I did was sign a football..."

Saturday, one of my favorite days. I went to the gym in the morning and after lifting for a few hours with Zach, came home to play some games. I was able to get in about fifteen minutes of zombie-killing action before my phone beeped with a text message. I picked it up and opened it.

"Hmm, a text from Raven... 'Meet me at 4th and Redwood Ave. Urgent!'... Guess I'd better hit the road."

I quickly pulled on a sweat jacket and hopped in my car. A few minutes later, I was downtown and looking for the address she gave me. I eventually found it, though. I parked on the curb and walked down a shady looking alley to a small shop at it's end. It's name was 'Bloody Ink', and I could only think of two reasons why I was here at the moment. Either Raven was going to start a squid farm, or she was planning on getting a tattoo. Figuring I was about to find out, I walked in.

"Jason!"Raven beamed once she saw me. "I'm so glad you're here... I'm really gonna need the moral support!I've never gotten a tattoo before!"

I raised an eyebrow. "You're serious?You're getting a tattoo?"

"Look, they say when you want to get a tattoo, you should think it over for two years first to make sure you like it... Well, two years ago I decided to get a raven on my lower back... And I still want it!"She smiled. "Are you with me or not?"

"I guess we're getting you a tattoo then." I shrugged.

"That's the spirit!Now, come on!"

She dragged me into the back, which was pretty much a small parlor with a flickering light bulb overhead. I started to rethink this whole thing, but Raven was already sealing the deal.

"Hi, I'd like to get a tattoo of a raven!"She told the girl behind the desk. The lady looked just as shady as the alley, with an eyepatch over her left eye and tattoo's all over her bare arms.

"Yeah, and I'd like to see some ID first!"She said.

Raven pulled out a card from her pocket and handed it to the lady. She glanced at it, then at Raven.

"Hmm... You're really 18, Ms. Yamaguchi?"

"Absolutely!"

"..." The lady stared for a few moments, then grinned. "All right... Let's get you set up!"

A few minutes later, Raven was lying shirtless on her stomach wearing an apron that covered her front half, but left an gap on the back for the lady to work. I pulled a chair up and sat in front of Raven, holding her hand as the needles met her flesh.

"Thanks for... _Ow!_... Coming... _Ouch!_...With me."She said in between the painful stings.

"No.. problem.."I said, trying to find other things in the room to look at. I was not good with needles. Just staring at one made me feel sick to my stomach and now I was starting to feel nauseous. Finding nothing useful to look at on the walls, I tried to focus all my attention on Raven. I was here for her. We were having fun. Fun, yeah. Think about having fun with Raven. Fun with Raven. Making out with Raven...

"Hey!What're you... _Ow!_... Grinning about?"Raven asked with one eyebrow lifted.

I just smiled. "Nothing, nothing... You really don't want to know."

"All right, weirdo.."

About half an hour later, it was done.

"Don't worry,"The lady said as she stood up. "It'll look better in a few days."

Raven got up and looked at her back in a mirror on the wall.

"Actually, I think it looks kind of cool, all bloody like that."She smiled.

"Uh, yeah, whatever. It's probably going to sting all night, so I'd recommend taking some pain killers."

I walked outside as she paid for the tattoo, glad to be out of there. A few moments later, Raven came out.

"You mind giving me a ride home, Jason?"She smiled shyly. "I took the bus to get here and pain killers make me kind of loopy..."

"You mean more than usual?"I asked innocently.

Raven just rolled her eyes and pretty soon, we were in my car and on our way to her house. By now, I had memorized the route by heart and took the right turns on instinct. I pulled up in front of her house and we both got out. She gave me a hug and as she turned to head up to her porch, she tripped and fell to her knees on the cement.

"Raven!"I quickly helped her up. "Are you okay?"

"Yeah.."She sighed.

"It looks like you're a little messed up."

"Help me inside, would you?"She asked.

I picked her up and carried her inside and up to her bedroom as quietly as I could. "Put me over there." She said.

"Shhh..."I hushed her as I obeyed and set her on her bed. "Don't be so loud. You'll wake up your parents."

Raven just laughed and I quickly tried to get her to quiet down, hoping we didn't wake them up yet. "What's so funny?"

"No one's home, Jason." She said. "My dad's been gone for years and my mom's at her boyfriend's place... As usual."

"Do you mean you just live here all by yourself?"I asked, surprised.

She shrugged, and I thought I was a hurt expression flash over her face. "A lot of the time, yeah... But it's not... so bad. I don't mind... Being alone..."

"Raven..."I noticed a few globes of water run down her cheek. "Are you...crying?"

As if not wanting me to see them, she quickly wiped them away and frowned.

"No!I'm fine!It's nothing."

"Raven..."I sat down next to her and smiled gently. "You're not alone... I'll always be here for you, no matter what."

She looked over at me, her eyes searching my face for some kind of reassurance so that she could believe my words. And she must have found it, because she smiled as a few more tears came down her cheeks.

"You're... You're so sweet, Jason... I never thought a guy like you would be out there..."She wiped her face. "I guess I should've dated more football players, huh?"

"Ha ha. Real cute." I grinned.

Raven reached out and took my hand, and I squeezed her's in return. We sat like that, in silence, for a minute or two before she spoke again.

"Jason..."

"What's up?"

"Will you..."She hesitantly looked away, then looked back at me. "... Stay the night with me?Sometimes, when it's dark... I get scared."

"Of course. Scoot over." I snuggled up next to her on the bed. We ended up face to face with only a few inches between us as we lay there and after a few moments of just looking into each other's eyes, Raven stirred.

"Jason,"She began. "I... I l... I lo..."

Before she could finish, I put a finger to her lips and smiled. "Shh. Just get some sleep, okay?"

Nodding, she pushed her head against my chest and closed her eyes. I kissed her head before wrapping my arms around her and just holding her close.

"Good night, Raven."

The next morning, I slowly woke up and yawned, stretching my arms above my head. I sat up and rubbed my head, seeing Raven going through some of her drawers. She turned around and gasped a bit when she saw me.

"Jason!you look exhausted!"

"I guess I had some trouble sleeping..."I admitted, throwing my legs over the side of the bed and straining to get up.

"Poor guy. Here. I'll make you some breakfast." With that, she walked out of the room and down stairs.

I stretched my back and followed her downstairs. Leaning against the door frame of the kitchen, I watched her make breakfast and within seconds, reality slapped me in the face with a wake-up stick.

"Oh man... What am I going to tell me parents?"I groaned as I ran a hand through my hair.

"Tell them you were hypnotized by a dark enchantress and that the spell didn't wear off until morning." Raven suggested with a grin on her face.

I shrugged and returned the grin. "It's kind of true, though."

An hour later, I quietly opened my front door and shut it in the same way. It was fairly early, so I held out hope that maybe my parents were still sleeping and I could get away with coming home late. But luck had a funny way of laughing at me. They were fully awake and waiting in the living room as I entered.

"Where were you last night?"My mom asked, wiping some tears from her face. It looked like she had been crying for a while.

"I didn't sleep a wink."Dad said, looking pretty exhausted himself.

"Uh... Sorry... I guess I should have... Called?"I rubbed the back of my neck.

My mom wiped her nose with a tissue she grabbed from it's box beside her. "I'm... Just glad you're... Safe."

I felt guilty for making my mom cry, so I offered what no other kid would've offered.

"Look... You should punish me. Ground me for a week!"

"Not this time, boy..."My dad said, frowning. "This time, your punishment is looking at your mother and knowing what you put her through."

"It's okay... Come here." My mom got up and pulled me into a big hug. I squeezed her and remembered how awesome my parents could be sometimes, when they're not crying that is.

After making up an excuse for where I was all night, my parents let me off and went about their daily things, leaving me to do my own thing. I decided to study for the day, to make it up to my mom if nothing else and... because I really wanted that new car.

End of Chapter Eight


	9. Homecoming!

Chapter Nine

Homecoming Week

"Okay, Jason... I hope you're in for an intense day!"Ms Prez smiled as she walked over to my desk. "For your final, you'll answer four questions here... Then move on to _both_ of your other classes. For each final, get four questions right for an 'A', 3 for a 'B', 2 for a 'C', 1 for a 'D' and none for an 'F'. Good luck... You'll need it."

I took a deep breath and braced myself.

"What is Jane Eyre's occupation?"

"Um..."I thought for a few moments before giving up. "... A ballerina?"

Ms. Prez frowned. "That's incorrect. Next question: Who wrote 'The Great Gatsby'?"

I knew this one. "F. Scott Fitzgerald."

"Correct. Which one of these is a character in the 'Canterbury' series?"

"The butler...?"I wasn't so sure on this one.

"Incorrect. What is Shakespeare's 'The Taming of the Shrew' classified as?"

"A... tragedy?"

"Wrong. You go one out of four, Jason." Ms. Prez shook her head.

Time for my math final. Mr. Russell sat in the seat in front of me and began.

"99 + 98 + 97 = ?"

"294" I said.

"Correct. Roughly how many centimeters are in an inch?"

"3. 68?"

"Wrong, Jason. 111 + 167 = ?"

"278"

"Correct. 60 – 17 = ?"

"43"

"Very good. You got three out of four correct... That means you got four out of eight correct on your finals so far... Good luck on your next test, Jason."

I sat down at History for the next stage of my finals.

"Okay, Jason, here we go." Mrs. Swovelin said.

"What is the title of Luo Guanzhong's historical novel about China?"

"Romance of the Three Kingdoms?

"Correct. Maximilien Robespierre was an influential figure in..."

"The French Revolution."

"Correct. Which of these cities was founded by Peter The Great?"

"St. Petersburg."

"That is correct. The Russian city of St. Petersburg was at one time called..."

"Lenzinburg."

"That is absolutely correct... So you got four out of four correct. Excellent work, Jason."Mrs. Swovelin smiled.

"I passed finals... Woo hoo!I'm getting that new car!"I grinned as I ran up and hugged her tightly.

She frowned. "Jason!Let go of me!"

"Sorry." I apologized, realizing I had gotten ahead of myself.

Tuesday rolled up and instead of lunch, everyone was at a huge pep rally in the school gym to pump up the students for Friday's homecoming game. As everyone sat down and got comfortable on the bleachers, Coach grabbed a mic and walked to the center of the gym.

"... There are those who say a lizard can never beat a badger." He started. "Well, that may be true in nature... But it's _completely false _in high school football! This Friday, we're going to show Wilson High that sometimes the little guy can triumph!"

"We're with you, Coach!"Jacob cheered.

"I don't care about football,"Hector grinned. "But I sure hate Wilson High. Go Lizards!"

"Were I a wizard, I would cast a 'buff' spell on the team, granting them each + 2 vigor!"Spud said.

"Go Lizards!"I saw Raven cheer from the bleachers and grinned.

The next few minutes was spent by people shouting their own thoughts and opinions. I never realized what a big deal this game was to everyone, not just the football team. Even the kids who never went to the games wanted us to win this thing. I really hoped we could pull off a win.

The next day after practice, as we headed to the locker room, Amanda and a few other cheerleaders came running up to us.

"Help!Someone's taken Lyle the lizard!"She cried.

"Who?"I lifted an eyebrow, not sure what she was talking about.

"Our school mascot!He's an adorable little lizard!We always take him to the homecoming game for good luck!And someone stole him right out of his cage last night!"

Chuck scowled. "It's got to be Wilson High."

"Can't those guys just play football?"Bryce frowned and shook his head. "Why do they have to pull these immature stunts?"

"Yeah. These pranks are stupid." Howard said.

"But... You'll help us, won't you?"Amanda pleaded. "You have to rescue Lyle before they bake him into a lizard pie!"

"Don't worry. We'll take care of Wilson High." Adam assured.

Out of nowhere, Spud appeared and crossed his arms while shaking his head. "I don't know, gentlemen... It could be a trap!Perhaps they're trying to lure you in, only to cast a splash-damage spell!... Or so they can call the cops."

"Wilson High isn't going to mess with us and get away with it." I told Spud, frowning.

Amanda clapped her hands exictedly. "I knew I could count on you guys!"

"All right, guys. I think our best shot of getting Lyle back is to grab their mascot, Barry the Badger."Chuck said.

"Ugh. Do we really need to stoop to their level?"Bryce sighed.

Adam shrugged. "Sometimes you've got to fight fire with fire."

"They're probably keeping Barry somewhere in the school,"Chuck continued. "We'll have to do a little breaking and entering tonight at Wilson High.."

Later that night, I met Chuck, Adam, Zach and Howard outside of Wilson High.

"All right, let's do this."Chuck said.

"How are we going to get in?"I asked.

"Easy,"Zach grinned. "I paid the janitor two-hundred bucks to leave one of the doors unlocked."

"Nice. Let's head in then."

We turn and only managed to take a couple of steps before Adam tackled us all to the ground.

"What's wrong with you?"I scowled, looking back at him.

He pointed to the underhang of the roof, where a security camera was pointing at the same door we were about to enter. "You better hope they didn't get a good look at our faces..."

"Let's just get Barry and get out of here." Chuck whispered.

"Word from the janitor is that they keep their badger in the school science lab." Zach informed us.

Making sure to cover our faces, we opened the door and walked in. It took a few minutes to find the lab in the dark, but once we finally located it, we snuck in. From the light coming in from out the windows, we could see quite a few different animals in cages on counters and desks. Adam pointed to the far side, where a badger sat in it's cage as if waiting for us.

"Grab him, Jason!"Howard mouthed and nudged me.

I quickly went to the cage and opened it, sliding my hand in. Very slowly, I went to pet Barry and he didn't seem to mind. "Uh... Good badger. Nice badger." Taking a deep breath, I quickly picked him up and let out the breath when he didn't claw my face off. Putting him into an empty box beside the cage, I carried him back over to the guys.

"Good work, meat. Now let's get out of here."Adam said and we quickly fled the room.

"All right," Chuck said as we stood in the parking lot of the school. "I'll make some calls... We'll arrange for a trade off at dawn."

"Dawn?"I questioned.

"Trust me... You don''t want the teachers to catch us doing this. If they know we broke into Wilson, we'd get in serious trouble."

Agreeing, we all headed home to get some sleep.

At the appointed time early the next morning, we met the guys from Wilson High on the football field.

"Hey. You the one who called?" Alexei asked as they walked up.

"Yeah, that's us. You got the lizard?" Howard asked in return.

"I don't know. Have you got the badger?"

Howard showed him the box he was holding. "What does it look like?"

Alexei held up a paper bag from behind his back.

"I'm sure you won't mind if my friend inspects the lizard." Howard motioned for me to go.

I walked up, scowled at Alexei and looked into the bag. Sure enough, there was a lizard in there and I couldn't see anything wrong with him either. "He looks okay. Let's make the trade."

As Howard walked forward to hand over Barry, he gave him a little pinch and then handed him to the Wilson kids. He didn't seem to like it, as we heard a low growling sound coming from him.

"Hey Barry. Hey calm down, okay?We're friends. Friends!_Ow, ow , ow!_"Alexei tried to calm him down, but to no avail. Barry turned bark into bite and began clawing at the boy's hands and arms.

We grinned and left, leaving them to their fun.

Later on at lunch that same day, I walked into the cafeteria with Lyle in my hands. When Amanda saw me, and then him, she sprang to her feet and ran over.

"You did it!Lylee!"She took the lizard and hugged him, then smiled at me. "Thank you!You're my hero!"

"It was a team effort. Everyone helped out." I motioned to Adam beside me.

"Well, you guys are the best!" Amanda gave us both hugs and then ran off with Lyle.

"I'm just glad that's over... The last thing we need is trouble right before the big game." Adam sighed.

The next day at football practice, Me and Howard headed to the field and found the team crowded around Chuck and Bryce by the benches.

"What's going on?"I asked as we walked up.

"Adam got called to Principal Shapiro's office." Chuck said, frowning. "I guess someone from Wilson High called in a report that he was vandalizing their school last night."

"A security camera got a lucky shot of his face..."Bryce scowled.

"What?"Howard went wide-eyed.

"But I heard he didn't give any of us up.."Chuck rubbed the back of his neck. "And without any of our faces, they can't bring us in. So now Adam is suspended from playing football for the rest of the year for not cooperating."

We talked about it for a few more minutes before Coach called us to start.

A little while later, I got in my car and drove out of the parking lot after practice ended. I had the smooth sounds of the famous rap superstar GangstaBot playing on my radio, speakers blaring. As I headed down the street, I spotted someone walking on the side walk and saw that it was Adam as I got closer. I pulled over a few yards ahead of him and got out.

"Hey, Adam!"

"Oh. Hey, meat."He said as he walked over. "I guess you heard the news."

"Yeah.. Not giving anyone up was really big of you."

"Hey, it was either me or the team."

"But... I don't know what we're going to do without you, Adam."I sighed.

He smiled slightly. "The team will be fine. I know I'm leaving the guys in good hands. You've come a long way. I know you can lead the team to a win."

"Oh... Thanks."

"Just don't let me down, meat."

I grinned. "I won't... Hey, do you want a ride home?"

"It's okay. I always walk." He shrugged.

"Come on. It's getting late. "I insisted. "I know my car looks like it's falling apart, but it hasn't exploded yet this year."

"Well... Okay."

We climbed in and when I turned the radio back on, Adam seemed surprised.

"Hey, I didn't know you listened to GangstaBot." He said as we pulled away and began driving.

"Yeah, for sure. "I smiled. "Mostly when I'm driving. Just on the radio though. I don't have the CD."

Adam was quiet for a few moments before speaking again. "This was my little bro's favorite album..."

"You think about him a lot?"I hesitantly asked.

"Yeah, all the time, I guess."

"I'm sorry..."

"Yeah... You know, you're a good guy. I know I've been kind of a jerk sometimes.." He admitted.

"That's okay."

"No, it's not. I shouldn't be taking my problems out on you. My brother wouldn't have wanted that... He was always so nice to everyone."

"Hey,"I punched him lightly in the shoulder. "Don't sweat it, okay?"

"Looks like we're here." Adam said as we pulled up in front of his house. "Thanks for the ride."

"I'll see you around. Let me know if I can drive you again sometime."I offered.

"Thanks... But maybe it's time for me to start driving again." He smiled.

"Maybe."

"See you later, Jason."

He got out and disappeared inside his house. I sat in my car for a few minutes, just listening to GangstaBot before I turned off the radio and headed home. I thought some silence might do me some good right now.

Friday night. It was the moment everyone had been waiting for and it was here. It was time for the homecoming game against Wilson High. As me, Howard and Jacob walked towards the locker room together, we spotted the Wilson High team warming up on the field... But they seemed to be having problems.

"Hey!Someone tied a huge knot in my shoelaces!"Alexei whined.

"Hey, this water tastes like soap!"The tall black guy shouted, spitting out the liquid in his mouth.

"Dude, did you put a unicorn sticker on your helmet?"

We had to hide our laughter as we walked by. "I never thought I'd be happy to see the twins' practical jokes paying off!"Howard grinned.

"Heh... I guess they just needed the right targets!"Jacob snickered.

Once in the locker room with the rest of the team, we took our seats as Coach took center stage and prepared his speech.

"Well, Lizards, it's been a heck of a season. And for anyone with a sense of history, you know it's been 12 years since our school has won that many games... But those other games were just the warm-up. Beating the Badgers is the main event. I know we're playing a man down... And it's all because of Wilson High. Are you going to let them get away with that?"He shouted.

"No, Coach, no!"The team shouted in union.

"I didn't think so. Hands together, boys. Victory on three."

We all put our hands together. "One, two, three... Victory!"

Then, we were on our way out to the field. The crowd in the stands went wild as we ran out, cheering and hooting louder than I thought possible. The cheerleaders were just finishing up some excersises to warm the crowd up and they cheered as well as they passed us on their way to the sidelines. I grinned at our everyone was so worked up, praying this game turned out well. I soon found out, we were practically playing for our lives. Wilson High might have had rotten people, but they sure did know how to pick football players. We were neck and neck for most of the game, a stalemate on our first touchdown. It soon dwindled down to the last three seconds left and we were still about forty yards away from the end zone. We lined up and once Jacob threw the ball back to me, I searched the field for an open man. Howard was already near the end zone and was the only one open, so mustering an impossible amount of strength into my right arm, I let the ball fly. I had never thrown anything so hard in my entire life. The buzzard sounded, but the ball was already en route and meant if we got it, it'd count. I saw Howard strain to run fast enough to meet the ball as it flew over his head, and then the miracle happened. He reached the endzone and dove for the ball, snatching it just before it hit the ground, and crashed to the ground.

The crowd went even more wild then earlier as the score changed from 7-7, to 14-7. We had won. Howard got up and thrusted the ball into the air, grinning like a madman. Chuck threw his helmet off and jumped into the air.

"Hah!We did it!"

The team came together and began knocking helmets with Howard, cheering for him.

"Looks like they just couldn't keep up with us!"He grinned.

"So you got a few lucky throws..."Alexei scowled as he stood nearby. "What's the big deal?"

"The better team won, Alexei. Take your team and get out of here." Adam said as he walked up.

The Wilson High team left with their heads hung in shame and that caused us to celebrate even more. As we did, Bryce turned to me and smiled big.

"Good work, Jason. You really stepped up tonight."

"Thanks." I grinned.

Coach came running up laughing. "Ha ha!Did you see the Badgers' coach?I've never seen a grown man cry like that!Victory is mine!Mine!"

"Uhh... It seems like he's kind of flipping out, don't you think?"Howard commented as we watched the man start to do a dance in the middle of the field.

"Aww. He seems happy. Let him be." I shrugged.

"Mom?"We saw Coach had gotten on his cell phone. "I know it's late to call... But guess what?We won!"

I simply shook my head and grinned. Tonight seemed to be starting off great so far, and I wondered how long this winning feeling would last.

End of Chapter Nine


	10. Just Maybe

Chapter Ten

Homecoming Night

On the night of Homecoming, I bustled about my room getting ready. I checked my hair in the mirror, and frowned as it looked pretty ridiculous. Quickly combing it into place, I began looking for my tuxedo when my dad knocked and walked in.

"Hey there, son!Mind stepping outside for a minute?I've got something you might wanna see..."

Eager to see if I got the new car or not, I quickly followed him out into the drive, where I saw a large tarp covering a car. My dad walked over and yanked the tarp off to reveal not my old rustbucket, but a brand new, cherry red Porsche underneath. I couldn't believe that that was actually my car.

"No way!"

Dad smiled proudly. "I promised you a brand-new car if you got good grades... And I'm a man of my word, ain't I?"

"Dad, this... This is awesome!How did you afford this?"I asked as I ran up to it and gaped at the tan leather seating and waxed mahogany dashboard.

"Let's just say your old man has some tricks up his sleeve..."He grinned. "Seriously though, if you get a call from a guy named Larry the Larynx, I'm not home!"

"You're the best, Dad!"

I quickly ran back inside and slipped my tuxedo on. Grabbing the keys to my brand new car from my dad, I hopped in and practically giggled when I started it up. It sounded so smooth, so non-explosive. Backing out of the driveway, I waved to my parents and then sped off to pick up my date for the night. About ten minutes later, I pulled up in front of Raven's house and got out.

"Hiya!"She beamed as she came out and met me on the porch.

"Hey. You look great!" I smiled.

"Thanks!... I've got a confession to make... I've never actually been to a school dance before."

"Really?I was so sure you'd picked up those moshing skills at the Spring Fling..."I shrugged innocently.

"Ha ha. Let's get going."

"Let's."

I turned and watched her eyes light up as she walked up to my car. "Whoa!What's this?What happened to your old junker?"

"Let's just say I got an upgrade." I grinned.

"This might cost me all my goth street cred,"Raven bit her lip and then squeeled. "Oooooo!It's so shiny!"

We hopped in and drove to the school. I blared some music, put on some shades and grinned at Raven, who just laughed at my attempt to look sexy. A short while later, I parked and we strolled up into the gym, which was decorated with a large stage along with equipment, and a disco ball. To sum it up, the room looked like one huge disco club with everyone on the floor dancing to the music. As we walked in, Raven poked me.

"Heads up... Some of your football buddies are heading this way."

Sure enough, Chuck and Bryce walked up.

"Hey, Jason!Good to see you here, man!You and your, uh, date."The former greeted, awkwardly handing the last part. Raven just stared at him, which caused him to focus on me and continue. "Man, we had a good season, didn't we?That's the best record Centerscore's had in 5 years!"

Bryce grinned. "All I care about is that we finally beat Wilson!I've wanted to see those guys put in their place for years!"

"Word up, little buddy. "Chuck agreed. "And I can't wait 'til next year, when we stick it to 'em all over again!"

The music changed as the DJ switched tracks and tapped the mic.

"What's up, party people?Are you ready to _party?_"Hector shouted.

"Huh?"I blinked in confusion as the crowd cheered. "I thought the principal banned him from DJing the dance..."

Chuck laughed. "Dude, didn't you hear?Hector made a deal with her... By promising not to release the photos he found of her European vacation!"

"What kind of pictures?"

"Let's just say she hit up some French beaches... And she might know a lot about the No-Pants Society!"He grinned, then him and Bryce disappeared back into the crowd.

"So... This is a school dance, huh?"Raven commented as we walked around and found a table free. "It's not quite as bad as I expected..."

I grinned. "So it begins. Two more months of dating me, and you'll be trying out for cheerleading!.. So, you want to hit the dance floor?"

She hesitantly looked at the way everyone was dancing and shied away. "Uh... I... I don't really... Dance... Like that..."

"Oh come on, don't be embarrassed!I did some crazy black-rose tango with you at the 'Vampire Ball' thing!"

"I don't know..."She still seemed reluctant.

"I _promise_ you'll have fun." I insisted. "Just give it a shot!"

"Well... Okay."

We walked out onto the dance floor, where we soon ran into some familiar faces.

"Spike?Dinah?"Raven gaped. "What are you guys doing here?"

"Oh, hey, Raven!"Spike smiled. "After you started dating Jason, you kind of started a fad!Now all of us outcasts are hooking up with popular kids!"

As he spoke, Taylor called him over to where she was. "Spike!come over here!I want to make out with you where a chaperone can see... That'll make my dad sooooo mad!"

"When duty calls..."Spike grinned and ran off.

"You too, Dinah?You're here with a popular guy?"

"Well, I'm not so much here _with_ one as I am here to _stalk_ one..."She giggled. "That Bryce is so cute!"

"Monsters... I've created monsters!"Raven gasped, a horrified look on her face.

I simply grinned. "See?Life's full of surprises!Now let's dance!"

Since it was a slow song playing, I put my arms around Raven's waist and she wrapped hers around my desk, nuzzling her face into my chest. We danced like that for the next hour or so, enjoying the steady songs and each other's warmth.

A little while later, I stepped outside for a breath of fresh air. As I leaned on the rail along the pavement, the door opened behind me and I turned to see Adam coming out.

"Hey, Jason. I finally caught up to you."

"Hey, Adam. What's up?"

"I brought you something." He handed me a DVD case and I smiled when I saw who it was.

"Nice!The GangstaBot album!"

"Yeah, it was my brother's copy. Now it's yours."

"Oh, wow. I don't know what to say..."

He smiled. "Just say 'Thanks' and leave it at that, okay?"

"Thanks." I grinned. "... Hey, let's ask Hector to put this on."

We walked back inside and I ran up to Hector and gave him the disc.

"And now,"He announced into the mic. "A special request going out to my main men, Jason and Adam... This is GangstaBot with 'Rappin' Robot Rampage'!"

As he put the music on, Adam looked at me. "You do know how to do the robot rampage dance, don't you?"

"Uh... Sure."I shrugged.

A few minutes later, the music started blaring from the speakers and I saw two tall guys wearing shades walk over to us. "Hey. Are you the kid that requested GangstaBot?"

"You know it."I replied.

"I thought it was you."The second guy said. "We were just cruising by and heard the tune bumping in here. Hector said it was your CD."

"Well, I guess it's my CD... But it was given to me by a friend."I nodded to Adam, who was just staring wide-eyed at the guys.

"I'm LazerBoi,"The first guy smiled. "And this here is my partner, Zero-G. Together, we're GangstaBot."

I gasped. "I didn't recognize you without your metallic makeup."

"Yeah.. We get that a lot." Zero-G said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"I can't believe you guys are here! I'm, like, your biggest fan. I know all your songs by heart." I beamed. "Like that one... 'Chicky, chicka...'"

LazerBoi waved his hand and stopped me before I sung anymore. "Uh... You can stop. That's real nice though."

"Hey Lazer, I bet he doesn't know out latest." Zero-G grinned.

"'Course he doesn't, man!That album won't come out for two weeks."

The two of them looked at each other and nodded, as if communicating telepathically, then hopped on stage. We watched them talk with Hector for a few seconds and grabbed some of the mics.

"And now,"Hector shouted into his own. "A special treat. We've got some very special guests tonight. Performing their new single, 'The First Gangsta in Space', I give you GangstaBot!"

With that, LazerBoi and Zero-G began singing their new song.

"_Get ready to steer!_

_put the rocket in gear!_

_cuz we're all busting out_

_through the ol' atmosphere!_"

"_Raise your feet off_

_the floor!Gimme,_

_gimme some more!_

_And jump so high you can't see the ground anymore!_"

As they sung, Adam turned and smiled at me.

"Man, this is... This is awesome. My brother would've been so happy to see this. Jason, you're... You're all right."

I grinned. "You're not a bad guy yourself, Adam."

And soon enough, the evening began to wind down. The music slowly faded and Hector tapped the mic.

"Attention, attention. It's now that time of night when we announce the Homecoming King and Queen!"

All eyes fell on him in silent anticipation as he carefully opened an envelope handed to him.

"And the winners are... Zach and Paula!"

I smiled and clapped. "Awww, good for them... I guess they earned it."

An hour later, the dance came to a close and after saying goodnight to the guys, drove Raven home. I parked in her driveway and we hopped out, walking up and stopping on her porch when she turned to me.

"Okay, okay, you win... I had a really good time." She admitted.

"That's the nice thing about us... We've just got so much to share with each other... I bet the two of us have a long future together."

"I can't believe I'm saying this to a guy on the football team... But I really think you're right." She smiled. "... I love you, Jason."

I smiled back. "I love you too."

We leaned forward and kissed tenderly for a few seconds. I wrapped my arms around her waist when she pulled away and raised an eyebrow.

"Does this mean I have to go to prom?"

"You better believe it."

"Any chance you'll wear a cape?"

"Maybe if you're really, really lucky." I grinned.

Raven smiled. "Heh... Goodnight, Jason."

"Goodnight, Raven."

With that, we kissed one last time and I headed home. I had to admit, I had my doubts about this school semester. Things seemed pretty rough on the first day and I didn't think I'd survive. But now, after everything I've been through, I knew I was going to be all right...

Until prom that is.

End of Chapter Ten


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